


More Human

by begitalarcos



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Broken Connor, Grief, M/M, Minor Violence, Psychological Drama, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Acceptance, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, upgraded baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-08-27 05:52:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16696675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/begitalarcos/pseuds/begitalarcos
Summary: Connor is nearly destroyed protecting Hank from an explosion. Hank scrambles to save his partner, turning to the only person he can for help. Elijah Kamski.In between Connor and Hanks story, Gavin Reed develops a partnership with an android of his own, RK900





	1. Broken Pieces

There was a soft buzzing that filled the inside of Connor’s head, like he were underwater almost. It was dark and he couldn’t move.  
“Hello?” the buzzing stopped but no one spoke  
“Is anyone there? I can’t see.” He could feel sharp stings of panic starting to well inside  
“Your orbital components were damaged, I’ll replace them soon enough.” The voice was somewhat distorted, he couldn’t quite place where he’d heard it before. The buzzing resumed  
“Where am I? Where’s Hank?” No response. His LED blinking a steady red as he asked once more  
“Where am I?!” the buzzing stopped again and a rough hand turned something inside his head and suddenly all noise became much clearer  
“You were involved in an explosion. Very heavily damaged. But your cerebral unit remained intact. Lieutenant Anderson brought you to me in the hope that I could… ‘fix’ you.” It was Elijah Kamski.  
“Explosion?” static images flashed in Connor’s head. The station, an alert, then he was putting himself between Hank and a wave of flames and shrapnel.  
“Is Hank-“  
“He’s fine. A few minor injuries but nothing he couldn’t nurse himself. You on the other hand-“ Connor flinched as the buzzing resumed “You are going to need some work before you’re back on your feet again.”  


There was a hand placed on his head. Chloe perhaps? Kamski continued his work as Connor lie there, eyes a dark and pixeled blue. He was limbless and blind, wires and tubes hanging out of his torso that Elijah worked carefully on. Blue blood dripping from the metal table.  
His head was guided back each time he turned it, large cables plugged into the base of his skull made metallic clicks each time he attempted to move.  
“You’d be much easier to work on if you went into standby my friend.”  
“I don’t want to shut down.” There was a sense of dread in his voice, Elijah sat up straight looking down at what was left of Connor.  
“I wasn’t suggesting that.” Broken blue eyes darted about as if by some miracle the world would come into sudden focus. Hands were now on either side of his head.  
“What do you need to calm yourself?” Connor felt his chin quiver, alerts and signals popping up in static behind blind eyes at an emotion he hadn’t yet experienced. But he couldn’t form the words.  
“Chloe hand me unit #8087q.”  
“That unit may not be compatible with model RK800.” Elijah nodded, but continued to gesture in the direction he wished Chloe to go  
“I’m aware of that, but it’s what I have on hand.” His head was released and his eyes followed the sound of Chloe’s footsteps as she crossed the room. Moments later she returned, Elijah turned Connor’s head to the left, pressing a tool to the side of his skull to reveal a small opening where he inserted the optical component. Long lines of static appeared before Connor’s eyes, like a VCR that had lost tracking, Elijah turned the tool gently until the harsh blue left the androids eyes and a familiar lifelike eye softly focused.  
“Better?” Connor blinked violently, Chloe knelt, neck craned slightly as she looked into his eyes.  
He could see, not clearly but… he could see.  
“Yes. Thank you.” Chloe guided his head back to stare at the ceiling as Elijah pushed his rolling stool back to where he’d been working.  
“Please try to hold still now.” Connor looked to Chloe who had the faintest smile on her lips.  
“Of course.” If he could take a deep breath he would have, and the buzzing started once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He wasn’t sure when he had gone into standby, but he must have. The table was now slanted in a near upright position. Cables still hanging out of his torso, head still plugged into a device near the wall, but he had an arm now. He raised it, staring into his hand, moving his fingers. His synthetic skin clipping away each time he bent at the knuckle.  
“It’ll come back.” Startled Connor turned, Elijah stood, arms crossed leaning against the door frame.  
“I was surprised your skin retained most of its integrity even after your damaged components were removed.” Connor didn’t say anything looking back to his hand, it felt foreign to him, this new arm. It wasn’t at all like when his memories had been uploaded to a new RK800 model, this was different. This was… traumatic.  
“Lieutenant Anderson is here.” This snapped Connor’s attention back to Kamski  
“He’d like to see you.”  
Connor looked down at himself. Then back to Kamski  
“Not like this.” Elijah half grinned  
“He was quite insistent.” Connor shook his head, if seeing himself in this state was hard for him he couldn’t imagine what it would do to Hank  
“Tell him he can’t. Tell him- Tell him I-“  
“I’ll see what I can do.” Elijah pushed off the door and disappeared. Connor slowly clenched his fist, skin still pulling away form his fingers.  
“What d’ya mean he’s too damaged?!” Connor’s eyes grew large as Hank’s voice trailed down the hall into his ears.  
“I just wanna make sure he’s alright!” and then he was standing in the doorway. Mouth hanging open, body frozen in place and all Connor could do was look away. Hank couldn’t hide the shock that overwhelmed him, that painted itself all over his face. He covered his mouth looking back down the hall at Elijah who gave a slight shrug  
“I told you he was damaged.” Hank turned back to Connor, shifting his weight from foot to foot, taking a step forward then hesitantly standing still again, not sure what to do with what he was seeing.  


“Hey…” he took another slow step forward  
“They... treatin’ you alright?” Connor tentatively turned his eyes up before looking back at the floor, his one arm holding himself as he nodded. Hank came closer, hands fumbling as if he wanted to reach out and touch the androids damaged shoulder, but he couldn’t he just crossed and uncrossed his arms in discomfort.  
“Kamski said he could get ya back on your feet in a couple weeks.” Connor nodded again, still not looking up. Hank looked back at the doorway where Elijah now stood. Taking in the awkward display.  
Hank leaned closer  
“Y'know you saved my life Con.” Connor’s LED spun yellow “I can’t ever repay you for that.”  
“You saved mine too.” Hank was surprised at the words as Connor finally met his gaze. A faint smile crept its way onto the older man’s face, but it was sad. Connor could see now the wounds Hank had sustained, his lip was split, the bridge of his nose cut, a couple stitches above his right eye. But he was okay.  
“I hate to break up the romance but I do have other work to attend to.” Hank rolled his eyes.  
“Yeah yeah hold your horses.” he placed a heavy hand against Connor’s cheek  
“I’ll be back soon.” Connor smiled softly  
“I’ll be here.” Hank gave a nod before taking his leave, Elijah barely moved as the lieutenant brushed by him.  
“Chloe see our guest out please.”  
“I know my own way thank you.” Chloe looked from Hank to Elijah who only tilted his head in her direction to follow regardless which she obliged. 

Connor released his grip from his torn shoulder as Elijah pulled his work stool out and sat in front of him. Turning his hand out as Kamski reached for him and bent each finger, pressing down with his thumb on the tips.  
“You feel that?” Connor nodded as Elijah released his hand and turned to rummage through various tools on the table next to him.  
“I’m upgrading you entirely.” Connor knit his brow as Elijah spun in the stool back to face him, not looking up as he pressed open Connor’s chest plate, exposing his thirium pump.  
“Why?” Kamski stopped, and looked up at him.  
“Android’s are different now Connor. With everything that’s happened and everything you’ve discovered about yourself, wouldn’t you like to feel more human?” the question was not one he’d ever considered and his LED spun yellow as he tried to process the very core of the statement. Elijah grinned going back to what he was doing. Connor lay his head back on the table. ‘More human…?’ he thought. Tiny sparks flickered as Elijah worked. After everything that had happened, all that Markus had done for androids, the choices Connor had made, the way the world had changed now that his people were considered ‘alive’ and were tentatively being given their own rights. Lying here with his body in pieces, the question of becoming ‘more human’ was one Connor couldn’t even hope to fathom. What could that mean? What would that even look like? How would it feel? An error warning flashed behind his eyes, he was overwhelming himself with questions he couldn’t hope to answer. The bright lights of Elijah’s lab made everything seem more mechanical, impersonal, dead even. ‘More human’ how could that even be possible? He’d remembered watching Hank sleep, the rise and fall of his chest, warm breath on his face, the gentle rhythm of his heart beat as they laid there. Connor’s head resting against Hank's shoulder, the feel of curly grey hair beneath his fingers as he traced the lines of scars and faded tattoos. Maybe he would be better. Maybe everything would be better. Maybe… more human would make sense when everything was finished. When HE was finished, whole again. Maybe. For now, in broken pieces and his creator’s hands working inside his chest nothing seemed certain.

**Artwork by may-fire-yana.tumblr.com**


	2. Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor continues to be mended but the time he and Hank spend apart takes a toll on them both

“No plastic partner again today huh?” Hank ignored the comment and continued to look through the case files on his screen, Reed smirked sitting on Connor’s desk. Hank barely looked up disapprovingly before going back to scrolling.  
“Maybe he’s really out for the count this time.” he glanced about the room at the other officers who either looked to Hank for a reaction or ignored the two of them entirely.  
“Give it a rest Reed.” Collins called out from a few desks down, Gavin barely acknowledged the statement, now leaning against Hanks desk.  
“Heard he was a real mess. Lost a ton of ink all over the scene.” Hank continued to scroll  
“He’s getting fixed.” He muttered without looking up, Reed snorted  
“That so?” Hank was doing his best now not to lose it  
“Yeah I got my cat fixed a while back, bitch was never the same.”  
That was the last straw. Reed was slammed against the bulletin board, jacket balled in Hanks fists  
“That’s enough!” Fowler hollered from his doorway  
“Reed you have a domestic downtown. Get a move on.” Hank let go and stepped back just enough for Gavin to fix his collar and bump shoulders with him  
“This isn’t over old man.” He snapped, continuing to pull at his jacket collar  
“Get a fuckin’ hobby Reed.” The two men exchanged middle fingers then one left the office and the other went back to his desk. Fowler rolled his eyes returning to his office.  
“Goddamn children.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The lab was dimly lit that evening. Connor continuously was diverting heat to different areas of his body as Elijah worked on the ball joint between his forearm and upper arm. He was now partially finished. His torso was completed down to his navel and his right arm was nearly operational. Kamski had installed many new upgrades in-between reattaching limbs, the most recent one was a more realistic adaptation to temperature. It could of course be switched off but Connor was intrigued by the new experience. It hadn’t been all too pleasant at first due to the metal table he’d been lying on for well over a week now. Hence the redistribution of warmth to certain area’s of his body. Once or twice Elijah had to switch the upgrades off because they seemed to be working a little too well. Along with new temperature regulation, he’d increased reaction to stimuli. A measure of not only pain but also pleasure. There were pressure sensitive area’s now where there hadn’t been before. He’d also intended to make Connor anatomically correct. To which Connor had no response to. At least no response he was willing to share with Kamski.  


“Chloe is equipped with functional parts.” This brought up all kinds of questions from Connor, who automatically assumed these upgrades were for Elijah’s benefit.  
“She requested them.” Was all the response he'd gotten. Chloe had just stood by, hands behind her back, occasionally handing tools to Elijah or leaving to provide him with various forms of sustenance. Usually scotch that she effortlessly poured over a ball of ice nestled at the bottle of the glass. Some evenings she would sit next to Connor. They didn’t really talk but just having someone there with him was a comfort. Hank hadn’t been back since that first day which gave Connor a lot of time to speculate as to why and what was happening in the lieutenant’s day to day life. Work was still there, as it always would be. It was the nights that made Connor worry most. Hank, alone in that house. Would he be sitting at the kitchen table again with a bottle in his hand? A gun with one in the chamber just within reach? He’d hoped not. He’d like to think things were different now, that Hank were happier than he had been when they first met. But it was easy to get caught up in the what if’s and maybe’s when everything was quiet and he was left alone on a table in the dark.  


“Try to move your fingers.” Struck from his thoughts Connor lolled his head to the side to meet eyes with Elijah. His arm wasn’t fully attached yet but looked better than it had. His ring and pinky finger twitched slightly, the others slowly followed but then stopped altogether.  
“Make a fist.” His hand spasmed slightly but couldn’t close completely. Elijah groaned turning to grab another precision instrument. Connor watched as the tool was dug into the palm of his hand and a small panel popped open. Tiny wires and circuitry shone blue against the white of his exoskeleton.  
“Chloe bring me another phalanx component.” Connor turned his head back to watch Chloe make her way over to a large cabinet, she pressed her hand against a screen that loaded a variety of images. Her LED spun yellow, eyes flickering as she searched for the right part. Finally, the doors of the cabinet slid open and the correct part was autonomously pushed forward by a mechanical arm. She made her way back to the table handing the part over to Elijah who didn’t look up as he deftly discarded something he had pulled out of Connor’s open palm.  
“Thank you.” She nodded ever so slightly before returning to stand with arms behind her back next to the head of the table. Soft violin music played throughout the room as Kamski worked. Brows knit with eyes hyper focused, hands moving minuscule pieces of hardware with delicate precision.  
“Try now.” Connor curled all four fingers inward one after the other. Elijah grinned closing the palm panel.  
“Now let’s get this elbow closed up.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sumo whined, pawing at Hank, who sat in a pile on one end of the couch, not really paying attention to what was on the television. It was the shopping network, and it had been on for several hours now. At one-point advertising “non-lifelike” chore androids and at another some kind of self-cleaning hygiene device for senior citizens. He was beyond drunk now, everything had become white noise as he sat there. Near empty bottle of whiskey resting against his side. Sumo continued to paw at him, wanting to be let outside but Hank didn’t have any intention of getting up.  


“Hank…” he suddenly sat bolt upright as Connor’s voice echoed inside his head. ‘Oh god not again.’ He thought leaning his head back. But he couldn’t stop the images that came crashing into his mind. His ears were ringing from the blast, he felt heavy and damp and there was Connor’s voice, small and strained. When he’d finally realized what had happened it was too late. The house was burning, the windows blown out of the police cars and Connor was lying on top of him. Bleeding warm blue blood, from his mouth, his chest, everywhere.  
Hank shook his head, rustling his hair with his free hand before drinking back a long swig of whiskey, it dribbled from the side of his mouth. He shut his eyes tight trying to drown out the images from that night but they just kept coming. Connor was torn up, he could see his heart beating furiously through his chest, bright blue and humming in distress.  
“Hank…” his voice was distorted and his eyes were becoming dark, the flames licked at the house in front of them, and Hank was scrambling to his car dragging Connor into the back seat and peeling out of there, with no regard for his fellow officers, for himself even.  


He couldn’t take it anymore, he pushed off the couch, the bottle dropping to the floor, Sumo barked as his master stumbled down the hall and fell to his knee’s in the bathroom. He couldn’t get that feeling of dread to leave him. Could still feel Connor heavy in his arms, eyes a brilliant blue as he called out his name in agonizing distortion. Sumo sat in the doorway as Hank threw up, sobbing in between, he couldn’t stop.  


“Please! Please help me!” Chloe had answered the door, her face quite blank as she opened it further and let them inside. He didn’t wait for her to announce them, he’d pushed past her nearly falling as he brought Connor right to Kamski. Who had been sitting near his pool. Completely un-phased by the bloody detective and the near destroyed Connor in his aching arms.  
Hank fell back against the tub. Hands clenching fistfuls of hair as he cried hard. Sumo whined again walking slowly into the room lying at Hank’s feet. Hank breathed a shallow breath, wiping his nose on his sleeve. Not since Cole had he felt so helpless. And it was so similar. The heaviness against his chest, the blood on his hands, the emptiness of uncertainty when he’d left him in the care of another. But Connor was alive, if not… in pieces. He was still here. Now he didn’t know if seeing what Connor had been reduced to after the explosion gave him more anxiety than when he dropped his battered body at Elijah Kamski’s feet.  


Just… a shell of parts. All but his face was the same, that perfect goofy face. He had to focus on that. The tears finally stopped, Hank sniffled and cleared his throat. It was gonna be okay. Connor would still be Connor. They’d be alright. Everything would be alright… God, but why couldn’t he just believe it was true. Waiting was so hard, he wanted more than anything for Connor to come through the front door, to just sit next to him, to nag and over-analyze every change in Hank’s demeanor, the skip of his heartbeat, the shift in his glance. Sumo panted as Hank patted his head. It was gonna be okay. It had to be.


	3. Unanswered Assumptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Hank doubt their connection, Connor hurt that Hank has not returned to see him as he recovers and Hank too afraid to face Connor again after seeing what he was reduced to. Neither are sure the other will be happy to see them when they are reunited. But perhaps absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Hank sat in his car, hands stiff on the steering wheel, rain pattering against the windows. He was parked on the side of the road, right near the turn off that would take him to Kamski’s place. It had been almost three weeks now. He hadn’t been back to see Connor once. Images of the androids broken body cradled in his arms haunted him, his jacket still bore the stains of blue blood that wouldn’t come clean. He wanted to turn in, to see Connor, hold him close, have everything go back to the way it was before. But for the life of him he just could not make his hands turn the wheel.  


“I’ll be here…” He remembered how cold Connor’s cheek felt against his hand, clinging to it for warmth. But he was parts back there… spare and broken parts, hooked into cables, lying propped up on a table like some sick art piece. He couldn’t see him like that again. No matter how much he wanted to he just couldn’t take it. Hank pressed down on the gas pedal and pulled back onto the road. Connor knew his way home. When he was finished he’d call. He would. He turned up the music trying to drown out his shame as he drove home alone through the driving rain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Connor was standing. He hadn’t quite gotten used to his new limbs and upgrades yet, but he was more than determined to work through that. He felt stiff and cold, Elijah encouraged him to walk around but it was difficult, and with his increased stimuli upgrade he felt… sore? Was that what this was? It was an irritation he would have rather done without but Elijah persuaded him to run through the full range of new senses and emotions he’d been given. That afternoon Kamski was out of the house, back at Cyberlife for certain consultations and press related issues. Chloe and another RT600 were in the pool, the RT600 swimming from one end of the pool to the other while Chloe rested with arms crossed against the side watching Connor, who stood near the large windows watching raindrops race each other down the pane. His LED spinning yellow all the while.  


“You’re troubled.” Connor barely turned at her words, immediately turning his attention back to the window.  
“You’re making excellent progress Connor. Why doesn’t that make you happy?” Connor looked into his hands, curling in his fingers, now perfectly synced with his skin, moving smooth and precise as they should be.  
Chloe pulled herself out of the pool taking a towel from the back of a chair, drying herself some.  
“You’re very fortunate to be what you are.” Connor looked at her, as she dried her long blonde hair with the towel, his LED still spinning yellow, a look of frustration spread across his face.  
“Elijah has made you more than who you were.” Connor stared back into his hands, curling his fingers in one by one.  
“That’s something to rejoice.”  
“What gives you the right to assume how I should feel?” Chloe’s LED flickered red a moment before returning blue. She smiled gently, sitting across from him. The splash of the RT600 slicing through the water mixed with the drum beats of rain melding into a perfect rhythm.  
“You’re upset the lieutenant hasn’t returned.” Connor returned his gaze to the window  
“I’m sure he has his reasons.”  
The RT600 stopped swimming as Chloe looked in its direction, it pulled itself from the pool and promptly disappeared down the hall. Chloe watching it all the while.  
“Human’s are ruled by such inscrutable emotions. Their ability to process grief and trauma is… limited.” The fields of grass swayed like a green ocean outside the window, curtains of rain rushing through them. Connor analyzed the wind velocity and temperature all the while trying to ignore Chloe as she continued.  
“Seeing you in a dismantled state was likely overwhelming for him. His reaction was one any human would experience upon seeing a loved one near death.”  
Connor turned.  
“A loved one?” Chloe’s demeanor remained the same, head slightly cocked to the side  
“I assumed he was quite fond of you. Why else would he have brought you here in such a state?”  
Connor’s eyes searched hers for an appropriate answer but nothing came.  
“Was I wrong to assume as much?”  
“No.” She watched him curiously as he folded his hands over each other  
“No Hank and I- we-“ She continued to stare  
“Yes. We are close.” She vacated her seat, hand hovering over the wet spot she’d left on the cushion.  
“Elijah will be home soon. We should run some more tests before his return.” Connor half nodded, she extended a hand which he took, following her stiffly.  
“You’ll see.” She remarked with a smile “Everything will be much better with time.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hank sat on the edge of the bed, Sumo lying opposite him in the spot Connor usually occupied. He tugged his socks off one by one throwing them across the room, missing the laundry basket entirely. Sumo yawned as Hank hoisted his legs up onto the bed, pushing back to sit against a stack of pillows. It had been raining for two days straight, and there was a leak in the roof now, He’d have gone out to fix it but fuck if he could find the spot in this weather, a persistent plip of water echoed in a pot Hank had set out in the hall. He’d already tripped over it twice, and once just kicked it across the hall out of sheer frustration. Sumo wasn’t helping either when he'd start drinking from it making a huge slobbering mess everywhere.  


Hank picked up the bottle on his night stand, barely a mouthful of whiskey left inside. But he took it and dropped the bottle to the floor, Sumo looked up and huffed.  
“Did I disturb your beauty sleep?” Sumo huffed again  
“Well excuse me.” Hank snorted sarcastically. Sumo ignored him closing his eyes once more. Hank rubbed his own with his palms, leaning his head back against the pillows looking out the window. Still raining. His mind started to wander, which triggered him to quickly get out of bed. Side stepping the water pot and rounding the corner, he opened the fridge but there wasn’t much of anything inside. Connor usually bought what he deemed appropriate for a balanced meal. But now there wasn’t more than spoiled lettuce, condiments and a half empty carton of orange juice. Connor. He promptly shut the fridge door and opened the cabinet above the stove. A quarter empty bottle of scotch. Good enough.  


He grabbed a glass and parked himself at the kitchen table and started to pour. Images of blue blood staining his hands flashed before him and all he could do to stop them was throw the bottle across the room with a strangled scream. Sumo sauntered down the hall looking at the broken shards of green glass, then back to Hank who pushed everything off the kitchen table, threw back his chair and pounded a fist against the wall. Sumo barked backing away.  
“You fucking coward!” Hank punched the wall again and again. Why couldn’t he stop? Why couldn’t he just forget? Why didn’t anything help? His knuckles ached as he finally took his fists from the wall, now dented and cracked. Sumo barked again. Hank turned, back against the wall, sliding down to sit hard on the floor. A complete fucking disaster. And it was his own fault, he could have gone down that road, could have knocked on the door, gone inside, made pleasantries with stuck up inventors and seen Connor. He could have. But he didn’t. He was alone and for what? He just sat there terrified. Terrified Connor would be different. What if he didn’t need Hank anymore? Christ, he didn’t need him now. He had options. But he stayed. He fucking stayed and why? Sure, they had something, some… unspoken softness between them. They worked together, they lived together, he took care of the house, took care of Sumo… took care of Hank. But it wasn’t his job, he’d told him that so many times.  


“I like helping you Lieutenant.” It’d gone on like that for weeks.  
“If yer gonna live here at least call me Hank.” He’d slip up every now and again, his little wheel spinning, trying to overwrite Hank’s dictated title. But he’d say it, he’d say his name and did it ever sound sweet when he did. Hank sighed deeply. Rain still pounding the windows, leaking through the roof into the hallway pan.  
“You don’t sleep do you?” the question came up one night after a particularly rough couple of days.  
“I don’t require sleep.” Hank rolled his eyes  
“Yeah but you must do something right? you don’t just sit around all night waiting for me to get up do ya?” Connor tilted his head curiously  
“I run regular evening diagnostics.” He thought a moment  
“But there is nothing more I can accomplish until you have sufficiently rested.” Hank groaned  
“So, you do just sit around all night doing nothing.” Connor nodded  
“Yes.” Hank motioned for Connor to follow him  
“Well not tonight.” Connor followed close behind, a quizzical look on his face. Maybe it had been the whiskey, the shit week they’d had, who knows?  
“You can sleep here.” Connor looked at the bed then back to Hank  
“I told you lieutenant, I don’t require sleep.”  
“Yeah well you’re not gonna sit around the house like an asshole all night. Freaks me out.” Connor looked back at the bed  
“Besides, you gotta do some kinda power off thing every once in a while don'tcha?” Connor stepped forward, running his hand along the wooden foot board  
“It’s called standby.” Hank rounded to the other side of the bed, pulling up the blanket  
“Whatever. Do that then.”  
Connor made his way to the opposite side of the bed, curiously lifting the blanket as Hank crawled in on the other side. He began to copy but stopped as Hank protested  
“Not with your shoes and jacket on.”  
“I fail to see the reason for disrobing lieutenant.” Hank groaned  
“Stop with the lieutenant thing! We talked about that.” Connor half nodded  
“My apologies Hank.” He stood there unsure of what to do. Hank sighed and rounded the bed, pushing Connor down by the shoulders  
“C’mere.” He knelt, pulling off the android’s shoes and socks. He then removed his jacket as Hank motioned with his hands.  
“Better.” Hank stated returning to the opposite side of the bed and sitting down. Connor watched as the older man undid his shirt and threw it to the floor. He turned away as Hank stood again to undo his belt. Looking down at his own shirt now he slowly brought his hands up to undo his tie and pinch open his shirt buttons. Hank was already under the covers again. Pants and socks on the floor, in just his boxers and under shirt. He stretched out his legs as Connor quietly removed his shirt, folded it and placed it on the floor next to his jacket and tie. Hank lay there with his hands behind his head, eyes closed, breathing deeply. Connor tentatively stood, undoing his belt. He stopped, looking down at his pants, his LED blinked yellow. He didn’t have any undergarments. He didn’t need any. Hank opened his eyes and knit his brow  
“What the hell are you doin?” Connor looked up  
“I don’t have anything else to wear if I remove my pants.” Hank could feel his ears get hot  
“Connor don’t be weird just get over here.” He did as he was told, copying the way Hank had gotten into bed, lying on his back, pulling the covers up to his neck.  
“I fail to see the purpose of this Hank.” Hank groaned flicking off the bedside light and rolling over.  
“Shut up and got to sleep Connor.”  


That was the first time they shared the bed. Hank got up off the floor, unrolling paper towel to carefully pick up the broken glass. Sumo sat up watching Hank clean up the mess he’d made. The glass clinked and clattered as it landed in the trash. The dog trailed after his master as Hank climbed back into bed. No more outbursts tonight. Just sleep and hope for tomorrow to be better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rain had finally stopped, green leaves filled the tree’s and shoots of wild flowers sprung up through the fields. More tests, more quiet nights but still… no Hank.  
“What if he doesn’t want me anymore?” Elijah didn’t respond as he continued to run diagnostics, cables hooked from Connor’s chest to a laptop. Chloe stood with hands behind her back near the head of the table. Her LED spun yellow catching Elijah’s attention. Connor was staring up at the ceiling, eyes pained and face torn in contemplation.  
“I can’t speak for lieutenant Anderson. Humans are fragile things after all.” Connor exchanged a look with Chloe, Elijah watched them. LED’s blinking as if an unspoken conversation were happening between them.  
“He wanted me to save you Connor.” Chloe looked to Elijah, who turned his attention back to his laptop. Keeping as flat an expression as he could muster.  
“That must count for something.” Connor balled his fists, eyes searching for a comfort that would not come. Elijah closed the laptop, pulling the cables from Connor’s chest, closing the exposed panel that bled back synthetic skin once more.  
“You clearly don’t feel comfortable here anymore. You should go back to him.” Connor sat up, turning to let his legs hang over the side of the table. Chloe watched as Elijah put his laptop on the counter across the room.  
“I can have a car take you.” Connor and Chloe exchanged glances, she nodded but Connor wasn’t so sure. She put a gentle hand on his shoulder, handing him a white dress shirt. Giving him a prompting look.  
“Go to him.” She said softly, Elijah closed his eyes at her words. Back still to the both of them.  
“Chloe will you assign one of the cars to take our guest into the city.” Chloe stood up straight, hands in front of her.  
“Yes of course.” She swiftly made her way out the door and down the hall, the sound of her heels echoing back to them. Elijah came back to the table, taking the shirt from Connor’s hands and throwing it around the androids shoulders. Lifting one of his arms, encouraging him to get dressed. Connor just watched Elijah as he buttoned the shirt.  
“I understand things are… complicated. Androids were never meant to feel things the way organic creatures do. Grief, uncertainty, love.” Connor knit his brow as Elijah adjusted the collar of his shirt.  
“But you do now. You feel. You care for him and he cares for you. He wouldn’t have brought you to me if he didn’t” Connor continued to watch Kamski as he brushed strands of hair from his eyes. Taking Connor's face in his hands, turning his head from side to side, as if searching for imperfections in his work. But there were none. Connor was perfect. Complete again.  
“You won’t get the answers you’re searching for here. And I’ve done all I can for you.” Chloe re-entered the room. Elijah stepped back as Connor stood up pulling at the cuff of his shirt.  
“Go. Be free again.” Connor nodded, he was overwhelmed with an emotion he couldn’t place, it bubbled inside his chest and filled him up. Was this gratitude?  
“Thank you.” Elijah stepped aside, arm extended to where Chloe stood.  
“Go.” Chloe moved back giving Connor space to step into the hallway. It seemed bigger, longer than it had been. The sun had just begun to rise, painting the sky in brilliant streaks of orange and pink, the warm spring air greeted him as he stepped outside. Everything was so clear, like he’d never seen a dawn in his entire life. Tree’s with vibrant green leaves shining in the morning glow. The moon a pale ivory in the cloud scattered sky.  


“You’ve been reborn Connor.” He turned, Chloe smiled as the car came around the back end of the house and parked itself. He reached out to her, their finger tips softly intertwined, skin receding. She smiled, feeling the overwhelming love Connor had swelling inside him. He breathed heavy, feeling what she felt for Elijah, the respect they had for each other, the way they completed each other, effortlessly the two androids became one with their thoughts, their emotions for the people they cared so deeply for.  
“Thank you.” Connor said closing his hand, Chloe pulled hers to her chest. The sky becoming brighter as the sun grew high across the fields of green. She watched as he climbed into the car, the door sliding shut and he waved to her. She returned it as the car backed out and finally carried Connor away.


	4. What rights?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor is home. But will everything be different between he and Hank now? And some interesting changes are happening at the police department that some people aren't too happy about.

The car pulled up in front of Hanks place. Connor sat there silently, just looking at the house. It took almost two hours for him to get back home, he’d supposed Kamski had programmed the car to take the scenic route. The door slid open  
“You have reached your destination.” An electronic voice declared. He sat there hesitantly, the car repeated itself.  
“You have reached your destination. Please exit the vehicle.” Connor took a deep breath and finally got out of the car. A few steps forward and the car door slid shut again, a proximity censor blinked and chimed, Connor took a few more steps forward onto the sidewalk and the car slowly pulled away from the house. The sun was still climbing into the sky. The sounds of the city in the distance, steam rising from the storm drains. The grass had grown long in the yard, Hank obviously hadn’t been cutting it. The push mower sat against the house, a spider spinning an intricate web near the handles, swaying and glistening in the sunlight.  


“Now or never I suppose.” Connor walked up the front step, hesitantly holding his hand in a knock, but he stopped himself and instead slowly turned the door knob, it wasn’t locked, as soon as the door was open an inch Sumo pushed his way out and jumped up. Connor laughed  
“Hey Sumo! It’s good to see you.” The dog whined and licked at his face, paws pressed against his chest standing almost as tall as Connor. After a few more welcoming kisses Sumo plopped down on all fours and walked around the front yard, sniffing the grass. Connor looked into the house but no one else came to the door.  
“Come on Sumo.” The dog snorted and shook looking back  
“Come on boy, come inside.” Sumo panted and made his way back over to Connor, tail brushing his legs as he walked past. Connor looked about curiously as he entered the house. The curtains were all drawn, the only light coming in through the door, dust particles dancing in the air. He wiped his feet and closed the door. Listening.  
“Hank?” no response, he pulled the blind cord near the door and the sun came screaming into the house, with a bit of light now he could see the place was in a shambles. Take out containers strewn about the coffee table, empty beer cans and a whiskey bottle next to the couch. Throw pillows on the floor, a blanket half resting on the back of the couch and clothes everywhere. Along with a ton of dog hair, Hank obviously hadn’t been brushing Sumo. Whose food dish was empty. Connor quietly peeked around the corner, a full pot of water sat in the hallway that looked like it had overflowed at some point. There were stains on the kitchen floor and pieces of glass, the trash was overstuffed, the sink full of dirty dishes, papers all over the place. Connor analyzed and reanalyzed what could have happened but eventually just ignored the prompts that shot up behind his eyes.  


Hank hadn’t been taking care of anything this entire time? There was an odor Connor couldn’t quite place, he walked past the bathroom glancing in to see that it matched the rest of the house. Towels on the floor, toilet seat up, shower curtain half out of the tub, a large crack in the bathroom mirror. The bedroom was the least destroyed. The bed wasn’t made and there were clothes everywhere… and another empty whiskey bottle but that was all. Hank wasn’t here. This early in the morning he should be home. Sumo pushed his food dish around pulling Connor from his thoughts.  
“I guess we have a lot of work to do.” He remarked walking into the kitchen and pulling the dog food out of the bottom cabinet. Sumo pawed at Connor as he opened the bag and filled the dish. He sighed, rolling up his sleeves, looking around, hands on his hips.  
“Well, let’s get started Sumo.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hank sat up straight upon feeling something hit him in the head. Reed had thrown a balled-up piece of paper at him.  
“The fuck you doing?” he griped rubbing his eyes  
“You were snoring. Hard to get anything done when it sounds like a tractor pull in here.” Hank groaned looking about his desk like he’d misplaced something.  
“You drink yourself into an all-nighter again old man?”  
“Shut up.” Hank flipped the bird as he rummaged around in his desk  
“Where the fuck did I- “  
“Collins took the case files up over an hour ago. You slept right though the briefing.” Hank leaned back in his chair. Reed was chewing on a toothpick, arms crossed, leaning against the desk opposite Hanks. A shit eating grin plastered on his face. Hank looked at his watch, scratching the back of his head.  
“The tin can ever comin’ back?” Hank ignored him, picking up various papers on his desk and tapping them into a neat pile.  
“Fowler said Cyberlife is sending us another one.” Hank looked up surprised  
“What do you mean ‘another’ one?” Reed shrugged  
“Some new model, specifically made for work in the field. Y’think this one’ll be as much an asshole as the last one?” Hank pushed his chair back, brushing past Reed as he rushed up to Fowler’s office. Who was on the phone, he turned in his chair as Hank entered.  
“What the hell d’ya think yer doing?” Fowler put his hand over the receiver  
“Not now Hank.” Hank leaned over Fowler’s desk  
“Yes now!” Reed was slowly sauntering over to the open door of the office, intrigued by what was about to take place.  
“I’ll have to call you back. Okay, thanks.” Hank backed off, arms crossed as he walked to the other side of the room  
“What’s your problem this time lieutenant?”  
“Yer getting another android?” Fowler shrugged  
“So, what?”  
“What about Connor?!”  
“What about him?!” Hank shot Reed a look as he watched from the doorway, Fowler waited for him to make himself clear but he didn’t say anything.  
“Cyberlife has offered us a brand new prototype. It’s an RK900, apparently it’ll be fully equipped to deal with work in the field.”  
“And when were you gonna tell me about this?” Fowler stood up hands on his desk  
“You take orders from me remember? I don’t run shit by you!” Hank rolled his eyes  
“Fine. But what do we need a new guy for?” Fowler pointed at the doorway, Hank turned, Reed looked around confused then back at his superior.  
“The fuck?!” Now it was Reed stomping into the room  
“We need another beat guy.”  
“I’m the beat guy! I don’t need any fuckin’ help! Especially not from a goddamn toaster!” Hank smirked which didn’t go unnoticed  
“Fuck you old man! You might be jazzed to work with an android but I ain’t”  
“That’s non-negotiable.” Fowler stated matter-of-factly, sitting back down in his chair  
“No fucking way!” Reed protested  
“You are gonna work with this new android and I don’t wanna hear another word about it!” Hank chuckled as Reed slammed his hands on the desk and stormed out  
“Phck!” they watched him knock a load of papers out of someone’s hands as he walked out of the main office cursing all the way.  
“How is the kid anyways?” Hank turned shoving his hands in his coat pockets  
“He’s… he’s doing good. He’ll be back on his feet in no time.” Fowler wasn’t convinced as Hank avoided looking him in the eye  
“You look like hell Anderson.” Hank half nodded  
“You been going to that physiotherapist?”  
“Nope.” he took a few steps backward toward the door  
“You’re not as young as you used to be.” Hank gave a sarcastic grin turning to leave  
“Uh huh thanks.”  
“Take your sorry ass home. That’s an order.”  
“Yes mother.” Fowler sighed as Hank waved back at him sauntering out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hank had no intention of going home. That big empty house only reminded him how alone he felt and he did not need to have anymore meltdowns.  
“The usual?” Hank nodded at the bartender as he took a seat, glancing up at the television. Usually there were sports on but it was tuned to some sort of conference, a group of androids were speaking to a news representative. The sound was low so he couldn’t make out what they were discussing but it was outside of a court house, so different ideas spun around in his head.  
Androids were now able to speak up about their rights, but wanting to be more human had its drawbacks. There was a new type of jail implemented just for them, no longer was there just the threat of deactivation. Unless they were found convicted of serious crimes. It was their own type of death penalty. There were androids with real jobs now, not just menial jobs. Androids who wanted to be musicians, artists, lawyers and teachers. Androids who had to pay mortgages and wanted passports. It was all very complicated. Hank crossed his arms over the bar, zoning out as he looked at the colored bottles lining the wall behind the counter.  
“Where’s your partner?”  
“Huh?” the bartender set a glass on the counter.  
“Connor. Haven’t seen him lately.” Hank half nodded  
“He’s around.” he drank back the glass grimacing as he swallowed.  
“Rough day?”  
“Just keep em coming.” Hank looked back at the TV, the sound of pool balls clacking and old records playing on an ancient jukebox filled his ears. The bartender refilled the glass, throwing a towel over his shoulder as he walked to the other end of the counter.  


“Crazy isn’t it?” Hank glanced to his right, a man sitting two stools away pointed at the TV set.  
“Months ago, they were all bein’ rounded up and thrown in a scrap heap. Now they’re out askin’ for minimum wage and equal rights.” Hank went back to his drink, swirling it around in the glass as the man continued.  
“My wife had me get one of those AX700 models. Doin’ yard work, laundry… all the kinda shit she didn’t feel like doing.”  
“Is there a point to this story?” the man looked over, Hank shot him an uninterested glance  
“Yeah. These things up and quit everything they were designed for, then they wanna come back and have jobs again, but y’know, with RESPECT this time.”  
“What’s your point?” the man came and sat next to Hank, who was not at all amused by the company or the current conversation.  
“So, she has this AX700 she named Cameron, I wasn’t keen on the thing but she liked it, they were friendly. It wakes up one day, says it’s free now.”  
“Yer runnin’ in circles here friend.” The man moves a bit closer  
“When they came to get him, she fought to keep him. Crying and screaming, said it was family.”  
Hank finished his drink and motioned for another refill  
“She chose IT over us.” Hank looked over  
“And?” the man pulled back slowly  
“They still took it.” Hank looked back to the bartender who was busy at the other end of the counter  
“She wasn’t the same after that.”  
Hank looked at his watch  
“I never cared much about how these things felt or what their cause was but… Seeing what it did to my wife, when they took it away. Maybe we were wrong. Maybe they were alive.”  
“They are.” The man looked at Hank who motioned to the TV set  
“S’no different than any of us fighting to stay alive.”  
“They ain’t human.”  
“So that means they don’t got the right to live?!” the man put his hands up defensively  
“I dunno what it means man.” Hank gave a disgusted grunt as he stood up. The bartender came over finally but Hank waved him away.  
“Put it on my tab.” He said walking out of the bar in a huff  


“Un-fucking-believable.” It was late afternoon now and once again, it looked like it was gonna rain. Hank sighed stepping off the curb getting into his car. He checked the call log on his onboard tablet but there were no alerts. Fowler obviously wasn’t sending any work his way. Musta been the impromptu nap session that inspired that decision. He turned the key and pulled out into the street. May as well hit a liquor store and drink at home again tonight, at least he wouldn’t have to deal with bullshit conversations there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few hours of aimless driving, Hank finally pulled up in front of the house. He sat there exhaling deeply, shoulders stiff as he gripped the steering wheel. Whatever. He’d get drunk, pass out in front of the TV and call it a night. Whatever. He pulled a case of beer and a brand-new bottle of whiskey from the backseat and got out, kicking the door shut behind him. He fumbled for his keys but then remembered he never locked the door, ‘What the fuck for.’ He thought, if some asshole wanted to break in and rob him there wasn’t anything worth taking. He opened the door and walked straight into the kitchen placing the alcohol on the table. Then stopped. The whole place was clean. What the fuck? He took out his gun, for what he wasn’t quite sure, who breaks in a cleans your house? But you can never be too cautious when you’re paranoid. He looked around the kitchen then back to the living room. Nobody. He side-stepped down the hall and peeked into the bathroom. It was clean too. Slowly he turned the handle to the bedroom and peered inside and all the air seemed to suddenly escape him. He quietly walked to the end of the bed, Sumo looked up at him and there lying next to him… was Connor. Sleeping. Or whatever it was androids did that looked like sleeping.  


Hank looked at his gun, then back to Connor and quickly discarded the weapon to a dresser drawer. Sumo shifted his weight as Hank came around the side of the bed, pulling the dog down onto the floor gently by his collar. Connor’s LED lightly blinked a vibrant blue as Hank carefully sat on the edge of the bed. He looked perfect. How long had he been here? Sumo rested his chin on the edge of the bed, licking his lips as Hank patted the top of his head. Connor’s LED slowly stopped flickering and became a solid blue, as he lazily opened his eyes.  
“Hey.” Hank said softly, Connor's LED stuttered yellow as he blinked himself more awake. Looking up at the lieutenant who smiled sheepishly.  
“Hey.” He returned slowly pushing himself up and sitting against the head board.  
“You weren’t here.” Hank looked at Sumo who panted as his ears were scratched  
“Yeah I stayed at the station all night. Didn’t feel like comin’ home.” Connor looked from Sumo back to Hank, LED still spinning yellow.  
“You never came back to see me.” Hank bit his bottom lip, still petting Sumo.  
“Why?” Hank chewed his lip then promptly got up and walked out of the room, Connor just sat there. Listening to the sound of a cap being popped off a bottle from the kitchen. Hank took a long swig, stepping back as the beer frothed up the neck and out of the bottle  
“Shit.” He cursed walking over to the sink, dripping bottle in hand. Connor came around the corner and stood, shoulder against the wall. Hank barely acknowledged him before taking another sip of his beer.  
“Things always overflow if you drink too fast.” Connor didn’t say anything, Hank took the other bottles of beer from the table and put them in the fridge before walking over to the couch in the living room and sitting down, flicking on the television set. Connor watching him all the while. Hank attempted to ignore him as Connor sat in the chair across from him.  
“Why didn’t you come back?” Hank pretended to be watching TV but Connor’s eyes never left him and eventually he relented  
“What do you want me to say? Huh?” Sumo laid down by the window, Connor just stared at Hank a pained expression on his face.  
“I want to know why you didn’t come back to see me.” Hank rolled his head back and made a dismissive gesture with his hand.  
“Things got complicated at work.”  
“Did they?” Hank gave an exasperated sigh as he got up and stomped into the kitchen  
“Yes, stop breakin’ my balls alright?!” Connor watched him as he took a long drink from the beer, setting the bottle down hard on the counter, both hands on the edge of the sink. Connor pulled out a chair and sat at the table, hands in his lap as Hank looked out the window, he could see Connor’s reflection in the glass. ‘Just tell him the truth goddamn it.’ He took another drink.  
“Y’didn’t have to clean up y’know. I had it just the way I liked it.” Connor watched as Hank paced from one end of the kitchen to the other. The more he stared the more Hank could feel himself becoming unhinged, he opted for another sip of his beer. But it was already finished so he headed to the fridge to grab another. But instead he just stood there with the door open, as if some other excuse was gonna come flying out of the crisper or something.  
“I didn’t mean to upset you.” He wasn’t expecting that, Hank grabbed another beer by the neck and closed the door.  
“The hell are you talking about?” he grabbed the bottle opener from the counter and popped the cap.  
“If I did something that upset you. I didn’t mean to.” Hank turned, back against the counter, he intended to argue but stopped himself. Connor was crying. He’d never seen that before.  
“No. No you-“Connor just looked at him, tears streaming down his face, it was too pathetic not to drop the whole thing now. He put the beer down and pulled up a chair.  
“It’s me, okay?” Connor didn’t understand, Hank groaned resting his elbows on his knees. Searching for the words, he was never great at expressing himself and seeing what his deflective bullshit had done made it that much harder.  
“I couldn’t see you all torn up like that again.” Connor blinked sadly, but Hank didn’t look at him.  
“I know I should’ve come, I know that. I just- I couldn’t see you like that.” Connor nodded, more to himself than anyone. Wiping his eyes on the back of his sleeve.  
“M’sorry.”  
“It’s okay.” Their eyes finally met as Connor gently reached out for Hank's hand.  
“I forgive you Hank.” There was a bubbling in Hank’s chest, much like the beer bottle that overflowed, he cleared his throat and stood up retrieving his drink from the counter.  
“So, they did a real bang up job on ya I see.” He wasn’t about to stay on any subject that would get him blubbering. Connor smiled softly  
“Kamski gave me several upgrades.” Hank leaned back against the counter  
“Upgrades eh?” he took another sip  
“You like… state of the art now or something?” Connor tilted his head  
“I suppose there isn’t another android like me in existence.” Hank nodded  
“So, how’s it feel?” Connor folded his fingers into his palm one by one before turning his attention back to Hank  
“Different.”


	5. Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin gets a new partner, he's not at all excited about it either and Connor makes a discovery that gives him new and overwhelming feelings concerning Hank

A couple days had passed and things were starting to get back to normal, at least it seemed that way. Until that afternoon.  
“Gav.” Reed looked up from his keyboard, Tina was motioning to the boss’s office.  
“Christ.” They both watched as Fowler stood and shook hands with an android, he looked a lot like Connor but he was taller, had a white jacket and carried himself stiffer than Hank’s little plastic sidekick.  
“So that’s your new partner huh?” Reed rested his forehead against his palm staring back at his screen.  
“No way no how.” He muttered taking a sip of coffee, it was luke-warm and tasted like garbage. But at least it had caffeine in it. Fowler pointed in their direction and the android promptly left the office, and made its way to Reed. Standing in front of the desk, hands behind it’s back.

“Detective.” Reed ignored it, tapping one key at a time on a report he was supposed to have finished two days ago.  
“I’ve been instructed by your superior to introduce myself.”  
“Uh huh.” The android’s demeanor was very rigid and mechanical.  
“I am an advanced prototype, model RK900, sent from Cyberlife to assist you.”  
“I don’t need assistance.” The android barely tipped its head to the left, eyes glancing in Tina’s direction, flustered she quickly turned back to her computer screen. It looked back to Reed who still was typing one key at a time. They stayed like that for a good five minutes before Reed finally looked up. The asshole really did look like Connor, its eyes were blue instead of brown and it had a steelier expression, but he could see the similarities.  
“What do they call you?” the android just stared  
“You deaf?”  
“No.”  
“So, what am I spose to call you then stupid?” the android came around the front of the desk and stood next to Reed’s chair  
“I have yet to receive an official title.” Reed leaned back  
“You don’t have a name?”  
“Correct.” Gavin chuckled exchanging a look with Tina  
“Thought androids were spose to be all progressive an shit now. Those Cyberlife assholes didn’t even give you a name?”  
The android didn’t say anything. Reed gave him a once over.  
The only identifying thing he had on him was his model number, RK900.  
“Nine huh? What was wrong with the last model? Besides, y’know, the obvious.”  
“I was designed to be a vast improvement to my predecessor.”  
“Right. Whatever, why don't you go an fetch me another coffee dipshit.” The android didn’t move  
“I am not required to do menial tasks.”  
“Yer spose to listen to what I say.”  
“No Detective.” Gavin was not amused  
“I’m here to work WITH you. Not FOR you. There’s a difference.”  
“Well, I’m not working with any fuckin‘ machines.”

The android looked back to Fowler’s office then to Reed. His LED flickering.  
“There’s a disturbance on the upper east side we’re supposed to investigate.”  
“Yeah well what’s supposed to happen and what’s gonna happen are two different things.”  
“I will be accompanying you Detective Reed.”  
“No Nines, ya won’t be!” Reed shot Tina a look who shrugged her shoulders as the detective grabbed his jacket and headed toward the door. The RK900 stood and watched before ultimately deciding to follow a few steps behind. It was gonna be a long fucking day.

\------------------------------------------------------

Connor welcomed the slight breeze as he walked along the sidewalk, Sumo trotting beside him. He hadn’t returned to work yet but had heard form Hank there was no big rush, their work load was pushed back due to the fact a new android was being brought on board. Hank had supposed Fowler wanted to see how efficient this new guy was gonna be before giving anything of real substance back to them.  
Connor had been surprised to hear that the new android was going to be partnered with detective Reed.  
“Doesn’t he detest androids?” Hank chuckled as he unwrapped his burger  
“He certainly does.” It was karma in a way, Connor looked forward to seeing how things played out between Reed and his new ‘partner’ when he got the chance to meet him anyways. Sumo tugged on the leash as another person walking their dog on the opposite side of the street passed by. Hank was out buying groceries, Connor had made up a very specific list of items but he knew Hank would bypass most of it and instead buy a ton of useless snack foods.

They had been pleasant since the day he’d returned, well, safe was a better word for it. Neither brought up the ‘incident’ Hank didn’t discuss much besides different things that happened at work or what he’d seen on TV but Connor didn’t mind. It was nice to have a low stress lifestyle at the moment. Though he couldn’t help feeling conflicted, sometimes late at night he’d go into the bathroom and sit on the edge of the tub and… try to figure out what it was he was experiencing.

He had urges he didn’t have before, not really objectives but… feelings. He’d lie there next to Hank and desperately want to touch his face, to pull in close to him, wrap his arms around him just to feel him breathe. But Hank was distant with him. Maybe he wasn’t even aware of it. But he was keeping Connor at arms length. Perhaps out of fear of losing him to another freak accident? Perhaps some insecurity he hadn’t yet voiced. Sumo stopped to sniff the grass. Connor took a deep breath, something he wasn’t really able to do before, now his body could feel the air circulating through him, its registered smells and temperature. He could taste the humidity, if he could sweat he would have. Kamski had really thought of everything. 

Sumo pulled on the leash again, ready to resume their walk. Children road by on their bicycles, a lady with a stroller passed them by, a man cutting his lawn, a woman and an android planting flowers along their front walkway. It was very calming, admittedly it wasn’t like this everywhere. Some people were still fighting for androids to be deactivated, that was always further into the city though, places they could be seen and heard. Here in the would-be suburbs of Detroit people were a little more… civilized. There were still the occasional residents that had signs posted in their window “Destroy all androids, Rights are for human’s not machines” things along those lines. But no one really got violent, at least not with Connor. The house was a half block away and Sumo seemed to be ready for their walk to come to an end as he tugged to get home that much faster.

The car was there, Hank must be back. Sumo coughed as he strained against the lead. Connor sped up to alleviate the tension on the leash as they approached the front walk. Sumo scratched at the door as Connor came up the steps behind him. He released the leash as Sumo pulled free from him and ran into the kitchen.  
“Whoa, down boy.” Connor wiped his feet and shut the door. Hank was putting stuff away, amazingly there were a couple healthy things on the counter. Bread, oranges and a jug of milk.  
“Stuff was on sale.” he said rustling Sumo’s fur as the dog continued to jump up.

“Get down, c’mon.” Hank pushed playfully until Sumo finally relented, taking a long drink from his water dish. Connor unclipped the leash and coiled it in his hands before joining Hank at the counter to help put away the groceries. He pulled each item out one by one, can of baked beans, box of crackers, dog treats and a curious blue bottle? Connor turned it over in his hands but didn’t get a chance to read it before Hank snatched it from him.  
“That’s uh... heh that’s mine thanks.” Connor looked at him curiously as Hank shoved the bottle in his coat pocket.  
“Enjoy your walk?”  
“Yes, thank you.” Hank smirked  
“I was talking to the dog.” He patted Sumo’s head  
“Oh.” Connor opened the top cabinet and placed a few cans inside.  
“But I’m glad you enjoy walking him. Sumo seems happy about it anyways.” Connor smiled as Hank knelt ruffling the dog’s fur, moving his head up as Sumo licked at his chin.

\------------------------------------------------------

Hank fell back into the couch flicking on the TV, Connor set the wet dishes from dinner in the drying rack as the sound of the basketball game came through from the living room. He dried his hands, and folded the kitchen towel on the counter. Hank cracked open a beer as Sumo climbed up next to him and rested on his lap. Connor smiled to himself, watching them. A previous task blinked behind his eyes and he made his way into the bedroom, he hadn’t made the bed yet. 

“Just gonna mess it up again later.” Hank had said but Connor enjoyed the neatness of spreading out the blanket each day. It brought the whole room together again. As he pulled the blanket off the bed Hank’s coat slid onto the floor, Connor sighed putting the blanket down to retrieve it. There was a soft thunk as he lifted the garment, looking down he noticed the bottle Hank had been so eager to hide from him earlier. He knelt and turned it over in his hands. ‘Personal lubricant’ he stared at it puzzled, turning it over to read the instructions on the back. A strange feeling welled in his chest and he promptly placed the bottle on the bedside table. His LED blinked yellow as he returned to fan out the blanket and tuck it into the bed.  
The TV set echoed down the hall, Hank cursing at whoever was playing. Connor put the coat down on the dresser, standing there trying to get a handle on whatever it was he was experiencing. He felt warm but somewhat disoriented, his heart thumped beneath his chest as he fidgeted with the buttons on his sleeve.  
_‘Androids were never meant to feel things the way organic creatures do.’_ Kamski’s words reverberated in the back of his mind  
_‘But you do now.’_ Connor tried to focus on anything other than the way he was feeling, was this… desire? No. He’d never had a longing like this before. But that couldn’t be what it was. His new parts ached beneath his pants and Connor ‘s eyes widened. This was not something he was accustomed to, he quickly shut himself into the bathroom and locked the door, breathing heavily, hands shaking. What was this? 

“Con?” there was a knock  
“You alright?”  
“Y- yes I’m fine.” He stuttered looking from his hands to the mirror then back to the door. Hank jiggled the door knob  
“Y’sure? You slammed the door and locked it.” He continued to jiggle the knob, Connor swallowed hard.  
“I’m fine.” Hank listened from the other side, not convinced in the slightest. He looked back to the TV then down at the door, he could see the shadow of Connor’s feet.  
“Alright.” Connor let out a deep breath leaning against the door as he listened to Hank walk back to the living room. He closed his eyes and focused on regulating himself back to normal. It came back slowly but not without a wave of indignity. A few moments later he was ready, he unlocked the door and opened it, cautiously peeking out from behind to see Hank was sitting back on the couch. 

Relieved he ambled into the kitchen, taking up the towel to finish drying the dishes. Hank quietly turned his attention to the kitchen. Adjusting himself as he watched Connor walk from the sink to the cabinet and back again. Gently placing plates one on top of the other, slender fingers wrapped around glass after glass neatly placed in rows. Hank felt his face flush with color, he pulled a throw pillow from behind himself and put it on his crotch. Clearing his throat, trying to focus back on the game again. ‘Yer too fucking old to have these kinds of thoughts.’ He told himself taking a long drink of his beer. Connor put the last of the dishes away and folded the tea towel once more. What were these feelings? Why did his body react the way it did when he found that bottle? And why did Hank buy it? His heart started pounding again. Things were about to get very interesting.


	6. The only Exception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank and Connor are back at work and a work related injury brings Gavin and his partner a little bit closer

“Don’t touch me m’fine!” Nines continued to hold Gavin down by the shoulders as the EMT tried fruitlessly to disinfect the wounds slashed through his forearm. It had been a routine call, disturbance on the east side, possible dangerous assailant. The usual. It was his own damn fault, always rushing in head first, the great detective Reed. If it hadn’t been for Nines there might not be much left of him.  
“What happened?” Gavin groaned as Hank approached, Connor not far behind him. Nines had a firm grip on Gavin’s elbow now so the EMT could properly get a good look at the damage.  
“It’s no big deal. Just some whack job high on red ice.” Hank crossed his arms, exchanging a look with Reed’s partner whose steely expression never faltered.  
“You executed the perpetrator?” Connor inquired, surveying the scene.  
“He did.” Reed motioned with a flick of his head to Nines who still sat behind him, one hand on his shoulder and the other still holding Gavin’s arm straight. Reed winced as the EMT applied a disinfectant  
“You would have been killed if I had not intervened.”  
“I had it under control.” Hank chuckled  
“Yeah sure you did.” Gavin grimaced, struggling against the android’s grip as the EMT began to stitch a particularly deep cut  
“Well we’ll take it from here I guess.”  
“The hell you will old man!” Hank rolled his eyes  
“You’re cut up like a god damn Virginia ham. There’s nothing you can do here. Go home!” Reed elbowed RK900 who still held his grip, he didn’t want to hand this over, especially not to lieutenant booze hound and his plastic partner.  
“Detective, please hold still.”  
“You hold still.” He grumbled, the EMT just sighed and continued to stitch Reed’s arm as best she could. Connor couldn’t help but analyze Gavin as he squirmed  
“Detective, your blood pressure is getting excessively high.”  
“Excessively high.” Reed said back in a mocking tone, Hank put a hand on Connor’s shoulder and turned towards the run-down house.  
“Forget about him Con.” Gavin shook his middle finger at the two of them as they walked away. Flinching again as the EMT started stitching another stab wound.

It had been an interesting couple of weeks. Working with his new ‘partner’ had been a challenge. He had no sense of humor and was just as much a fact-oriented fucker as Connor was, which would usually inspire Reed to just walk away while the android was explaining something or detailing certain useless information. Fowler was loving his efficiency though, he got paperwork done surprisingly fast. He did well in interrogations, he took down suspects quickly and got along with almost everyone in the division.  
He wasn’t as chatty as Connor, but some of the officers appreciated that. Nice to just get work done and have someone who’d pick up the slack for you if you needed it. Reed couldn’t admit it, especially not to Fowler but… he was kinda liking having Nines around.  
Nines, that was what the android had dubbed himself. Between all the insults and curses Reed slung at him, Nines was the one nickname that seemed to stick. It was either that or ‘dumb shit’ not surprising he’d opted for the latter. 

Hank was back at work, with Connor always a few steps behind him. It was sick how overly attached they were to each other. They got shit done, sure, so what? It was so obvious there was something else going on between them besides the ‘buddy cop’ façade they had going. Reed saw it, he’d poke at the two of them but never got any real confirmation if his assumptions were correct. He didn’t really want to know either, I mean the solid, nasty details. Ugh. No thank you. But he could see it, there was a softness to Anderson that wasn’t there before, he was coming in to work sober, he wasn’t as dishevelled as he had been before all this android revolution crap. 

Maybe he was jealous, Reed would never admit that. He hadn’t really known Hank to be anything but a crusty, booze soaked hard ass. But Connor made him… different. He was happy, and that was annoying. How does an android make someone happy anyways? What the fuck was he doing that made the old man so much harder to crack nowadays? Part of Gavin’s daily joy came from giving Hank a hard time, but it was damn near impossible with ‘the baby lieutenant’ around. He’d just get ignored now. Having Nines around didn’t make things any easier.  
At least he and Connor didn’t seem to have any kind of ‘friendship’ going on, for Nines stuff was all work related, he was civil and direct. Which was a comfort in its own way, at least this fucker was Gavin’s. If he had to be anything, he was gonna be nothing like Connor. At least if Reed could help it, one Connor was bad enough. They didn’t really connect the way people thought they might, other androids were happy to meet Connor, they knew him through Markus and the revolution but Nines… Nines had no real part in that. He was content to work, he had a charging terminal in the station, he’d do maintenance on himself when he needed it, he didn’t want any money, didn’t want any kind of compensation for anything. He just did what he was supposed to do.  
He’d be there every morning in the same white jacket, with the same placid expression, doing his damn job. That’s how androids were supposed to be. Granted, Nines still had a mind of his own, and he was more than happy to point that out whenever someone tried to delegate him to meaningless tasks. He was no one’s errand boy. In that way Reed sort of respected him, he’d never tell him that. But if he had to be saddled with an android… he was thankful it was Nines.

“Go back to the station.” Nines didn’t respond, he just sat there next to Gavin at the bar. Who had pounded back several beers and a handful of shots in the past few hours.  
“You shouldn’t be drinking Detective.” Reed ignored him, taking a long swig from his beer.  
“You sustained two arterial stab wounds and lost a total blood percentage of seven percent.”  
“What’s your point?” Nines took the beer from Gavin  
“Your body could go into hypovolemic shock.” Reed rolled his eyes reaching for his beer  
“I’ll take my chances.” Nines slid the beer just out of reach  
“If you continue this destructive behaviour you’ll be out of chances.” Unamused Reed wrenched himself forward and grabbed the beer, drinking back what was left in the bottle, motioning to the waitress for another. Nines shifted in his seat, shoulders squared and posture ramrod straight. But he didn’t intervene when another bottle of beer was placed on the table.  
“Thanks honey.” Reed winked dropping a couple bucks on her tray. She gave a tight-lipped smile, picking up the empty bottles and glasses off the table.  
“Say what’re you doin’ later?” She ignored Reed, who wasn’t gonna take silence for an answer, when she turned to leave, he pulled her into his lap, which resulted in a slap to the face and beer all over him. Nines just sat there, Gavin cursing as he shook off his hands, beer all down his front.  
“The fuck’re you looking at?” Nines didn’t respond, Gavin continued to curse as he collected his jacket and stormed out. The android not far behind him.  
“Fuckin’ bitch.” Gavin griped wiping his hands on his jeans, wincing and shaking his arm as the beer had soaked into his bandages. It was cool out and the city hummed with the sound of autonomous vehicles and brassy street lights. Reed rummaged in his pocket for his keys but when he finally pulled them out, they were snatched from behind him  
“What the fuck?” Nines stood there, keys in hand  
“You’re too intoxicated to operate a motor vehicle Detective.”  
“Fuck you, gimme my fuckin’ keys asshole!” Nines held the keys up out of Reed’s reach who was getting more and more pissed by the second  
“I’m afraid I can’t do that Detective.” Gavin jumped for the keys, cursing all the while before shoving Nines back, with no real effect  
“You think yer so damn smart, don’t you?” Nines knit his brow, unsure of what it was Gavin was trying to say  
“Well you don’t know shit asshole! You don’t know shit!” Gavin stumbled backward, nearly falling on his ass  
“Detective you aren’t yourself.”  
“Fuck you.” Reed spat, turning and steadying himself before walking down the sidewalk in the other direction  
“Where are you going?”  
“Home!” Nines looked from Reed’s car back to the stumbling Detective  
“You’re going to walk home?”  
“Yes!” he announced then proceeded to fall off the curb, Nines sighed and made his way over to Reed to collect him  
“M’fine. Don’ touch me.” Reed slurred as the android half carried him back towards his car, unlocking the passenger side and loading Reed inside, who at one point put both hands on either side of the door, resisting being pushed in. He ultimately lost that battle as Nines shut the door and rounded to the driver’s side. Holding the keys out of Gavin’s reach again  
“Nobody drives this car but me!” He spluttered, Nines just pushed him by the shoulder back against the passenger door, leaning over and buckling Reed in who jiggled with the seatbelt. Too drunk to figure out how to take it off again.  
“Y’don’t even know where I live.” He declared. Nines started the car.  
“Y’don’t even know.” he continued closing his eyes as they pulled away from the curb.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t a very long drive, it would have been shorter if Reed hadn’t been a drunk pain in the ass the entire time. Constantly babbling and pointing at things out the window.  
“I bet that guy doesn’t have to listen to a toaster all day long.” Nines had just ignored him, occasionally pushing Reed back into his seat when he’d lean over him. Drunk and stupid. Finally they pulled up in front of the apartment building, Nines unbuckled his seat belt and rounded to the passenger side, fighting with Gavin who was holding the door shut.  
“Detective, open the door.”  
“Fuck you, ya plastic prick!” After one good tug Nines had the door open, the seat belt off and Gavin’s arm around his neck as they made their way to the door. A persistent meowing coming from the other side, as soon as they were inside two cats were circling around Nines legs.  
“Daddy’s home.” Gavin said sing-songingly as Nines placed him on the couch, returning to shut the door. The cats ran back and forth from their empty food bowls to Gavin, who patted dumbly at them all the while. Nines walked into the small kitchen, opening cabinets one by one, searching for the cat’s food. Gavin laughed as one of them jumped up in his lap and pressed its head against his. It jumped down and ran to the kitchen upon hearing Nines peel back the lid of the can and dumping the food into a bowl, following the same with the second bowl. Both cats ravenously devouring the cylindrical blobs of food.  
“Greedy lil fuckers.” Gavin mused, head bobbing as he attempted to compose himself. Nines watched the two of them as they ate, one was a straight grey and the other was a fluffy orange and white with a long feathery tail. He knelt and reached forward but stopped. Gavin looked on with half open glossy eyes as Nines very carefully extended his hand and ran it over the grey cats back. It made growly noises as it ate. The sensation of the fur beneath his fingers was quite pleasant. He could feel the vibration of its growling through its body as he continued to stroke its fur. He stopped as Gavin loudly cleared his throat and flopped down on his side.  
“Why’re you still here?” he moaned, emphasizing each word. Nines rose and came to stand over him. Gavin groaned as his arm was pulled up  
“Your wounds need to be cleaned.” He wrenched his arm back, tucking it underneath himself.  
“Detective, you’ve started to bleed again and the alcohol that you spilled has soaked through your bandages.”  
“Waitress spilled it, not me.” Gavin stated matter-of-factually, eyes closed as he attempted to sleep, hoping that’d deter Nines from pressing the matter further. Which he thought had worked when the android left the room, but upon having his arm pulled back out he realized it was only to fetch the first aid kit from the bathroom. Reed half shouted as Nines pulled off the soiled dressings.  
“You tryin’ to rip my arm off?!” Nines looked at the used bandage, a few arm hairs stuck in the adhesive tape. He dropped it on the floor and promptly began to dab disinfectant onto a towel.  
“Mother fucker!” Reed bellowed, wounds hissing and frothing as the android cleaned them. He turned his head into the couch as Nines continued, carefully wiping away dried blood and beer as he re-wrapped Gavin’s wounded arm. The cats finished their food and sat observing as Nines pulled off Reed’s shoes and pushed his legs up onto the couch. Who shifted into a more comfortable position, arm once again tucked against his side. He laid there in a daze as Nines draped a blanket over top of him and placed his shoes at the door flicking off the light. But upon hearing a chair being pulled out Gavin looked up, the android was sitting at his little kitchen table, hands on his knees, just watching him. Illuminated in a honey glow by the street lights outside, LED a perfect blue.  
“What’re you doing?”  
“You may require additional assistance this evening.” The grey cat stretched, jumping up on the back of the couch.  
“You’re gonna sit there and watch me sleep?”  
“Correct.” Gavin laid back down  
“Fine just don’t touch any of my stuff.” The orange cat rubbed up against Nines leg, purring. Gavin yawned, arm tingly and sore.  
“G’night asshole.” He muttered, pulling the blanket up over his shoulders  
“Goodnight Detective.”

**Artwork by Olivia313.tumblr.com**


	7. Things have changed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Hank share an awkward morning and at the same time Reed also wakes up to find himself in an awkward position

Hank blinked himself awake, the early morning sunlight creeping through the partially drawn curtains. It was cloudy, they were probably in for another spring shower. Hank sighed, Connor was curled up against him… again. He didn’t mind, he’d actually feel a small sense of victory when he’d wake to find him this way. Head rested against his shoulder, slender fingers pressed against his chest, that little tuft of hair falling over his eyes, LED a faint blue. Perfect and tranquil. If he could paint that image in his memory for eternity he would. But it’d only take a second and the scene was shattered. He’d shift his weight and pull away as gently as he could, rousing Connor from standby and as soon as those brown eyes placed Hank, he’d be up and out of the room, shut away in the bathroom, splashing his face with cold water. But this morning he held his nerve. He kept still, calm and as collected as he could muster. Just watching. The android really was perfect in every way. Kamski had done a hell of a job fixing him up. Everything was seamless, as it should be. Hank chewed at his bottom lip. Christ, he wanted to touch him so badly, trace his chest with his fingertips, press his face against his neck, brush the hair from his eyes. If he weren’t so chickenshit he might even try for more.  
Connor’s fingers curled inward, Hank promptly closed his eyes and laid his head back down. LED blinking blue, Connor’s eyes opened slowly, turning upward to notice how close he was to Hank. Tentatively he reached out, brushing a finger through Hank’s beard, whose eyes snapped open at the sensation. Connor faintly smiled pulling his hand against himself as Hank just looked at him bewildered.

“Good morning Lieutenant.” Hank blinked a few times before sitting up  
“Uh huh. Yeah uh- yeah morning to you too Con.” He pushed the blanket back, retrieved his jeans from the floor and shuffled toward the bathroom. Connor rolled onto his back, one hand on his chest the other tracing the warmth of Hank’s side of the bed. Things were not the same. Was it the accident that had made everything awkward again? They hadn’t exactly been ignited in the thralls of passion or anything before but at least they were comfortable with each other. More or less. Before, Connor could be cooking and Hank would occasionally rest his chin on his shoulder to see what he was doing, they could sit close to each other on the couch while Hank watched basketball, Hank could get undressed in front of him before going to bed. Not all the way down to his birthday suit but at least he’d feel secure enough to take off his pants and shirt without it being a big deal. Now Hank went to the bathroom, undressed and put on a robe before removing it to come to bed, he’d get up if Connor sat too close, he’d sit at the table or not be in the same room at all when Connor was preparing something. How did things get so strained between them? What changed?  
_‘Seeing you in a dismantled state was likely overwhelming for him. His reaction was one any human would experience upon seeing a loved one near death.’_ Chloe’s words echoed inside his head. A loved one. Was that what had changed? Did Hank have feelings for him? If he did it wasn’t obvious. At least not in a way that made any sense to Connor. Who DID have feelings. What kind though he wasn’t certain. Maybe it was the new software, the addition of functional parts, the way Hank would hold a look just a little longer than necessary. Whatever it was, it was frustrating and confusing. He could stow the thoughts away, along with canceled diagnostics and alerts that shot up behind his eyes in quiet moments between them. But these… urges. They were only getting stronger, more frequent and perplexing. Nothing in his original programming had ever felt this way, even when he had become deviant. Kamski had warned him that things would be different, that it would be an adjustment for him to learn to cope with being… more human. Connor had never really wanted anything for himself, not like this and it was getting beyond want now. He craved physical contact like he’d never imagined.  
Hank exited the bathroom, jeans on again and fingers buttoning a loud striped shirt. Connor watching from the bedroom. Hank could feel the android’s eyes on him, but he refused to look up. Refused to take in that scene of pale skinned perfection gazing at him from beneath ruffled sheets. He cursed under his breath as he reached the last button and found he had mismatched them, one side longer with one extra button. He fumbled with his shirt tail undoing the buttons again and nearly jumped out of his skin as Connor’s hands cupped around his. Now startled blue eyes were held by intense brown ones, what seemed like an eternity passed before Connor turned his attention to Hank’s shirt, pinching buttons open from navel to near chin. Hank swallowed hard as Connor readjusted the collar of his shirt, leaving the first two buttons free and then aligning the rest together neatly back down his front. Once completed he took a step back, smiled and waited. Hank cleared his throat.  
“Thanks.” He shifted from foot to foot before turning, feeling very awkward and confused. Sumo looked up from his place on the couch, Hank snapped and pointed at the floor as he entered the kitchen, taking the empty coffee pot from the machine. But Sumo just stretched and laid back down, Hank rolled his eyes turning on the kitchen tap. Connor pulled on one of Hank’s old sweaters as he came into the kitchen.

“Sumo. Down.” The big dog yawned and plopped down onto the floor at the androids command. Hank swirled the coffee pot around, dumping the water out before refilling it again. Sumo rubbed up against the back of Connor’s legs, who was carefully measuring out spoonful’s of ground coffee into a filter. Hank turned startled for the second time that morning as Connor was once again standing right in front of him, he took the pot from his hands and turned back to the counter, filling the machine with water. Hank just watched him. He closed the back, placed the pot and flicked it on. The coffee machine gurgled to life, Sumo pawed at Hank. Who still just stood there watching Connor, who seemed somewhat transfixed on the coffee machine. It steamed and gurgled before finally a drop then a trickle and then a stream of dark liquid began to fill the pot.  
“Did Detective Reed make it home alright last night?”  
“How should I know? He doesn’t listen to me.” Connor took a mug out of the cupboard and set it next to the coffee machine, Sumo pawed at Hank again who pushed the dog back slightly with his leg. Connor rested against the counter, if not for his LED he would’ve passed for human, grey sweats and Hanks oversized sweater, hands rested on the counter behind him.  
“He received twenty-four stitches for two stab wounds, one that nearly struck an arterial vein. He should’ve gone to the hospital.” Hank finally relented to Sumo’s pawing and began to make his way to the back door.  
“Yeah well he had his partner with him, maybe it took him home.” Connor knit his brow as Hank let Sumo out to the backyard  
“It?” Hank turned from the open door  
“What?” Connor stood with arms crossed in the hall  
“You said maybe IT took him home.” Sumo kicked up grass as he finished his business, Hank took a long breath exhaling loudly as the dog came back in  
“I didn’t mean it like that.” He closed the door and brushed past Connor who wasn’t ready to drop the conversation  
“What did you mean then?” Hank groaned gesturing toward Connor without looking as he opened a drawer and rummaged for a spoon  
“I just meant he’s not like most- eh y’know.”  
“I don’t understand.” Hank sighed closing the drawer, if he could guess what the expression on the android’s face meant he’d have gone for annoyance… and maybe a tad of intrigue. Hank poured the coffee, spooning sugar in and stirring.  
“He’s not like you. He’s colder more like-“  
“A machine?” Hank gave a tight-lipped smile and a half nod before taking a sip of coffee  
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way.”  
“How else could you have meant it?” Hank put a hand up attempting to halt things before they got heated  
“All I meant was that he’s very mission oriented. He does things with a lot more- I dunno. Directness. He’s clinical y’know? You used to be like that.” Connor nodded. It was true. He didn’t really like to think back on it, but it was true and it brought up feelings he didn’t care to explore. Daniel on that roof top, Kara and Alice running on a busy highway, holding a gun to Chloe’s head, the death of countless androids in Jericho. Guilt wasn’t an emotion he liked to experience, it’d wash over him and cling to every fiber of his being like a heavy wet blanket. 

“Hopefully Reed took his sorry ass home. But I wouldn’t count on it.” Sumo jumped back up on the couch.  
“Get off there with your dirty fucking feet!” Hank hollered, the dog huffed rolling onto its back.  
“Sumo down.” Connor commanded, the dog did as he was told, Hank groaned taking another sip of his coffee as Sumo sauntered into the kitchen.  
“What is your problem huh?” the dog panted sitting down next to Hank, who scratched behind his ear. Connor sighed, LED spinning yellow as he left the kitchen and walked back toward the bedroom. They’d have to go into work in a few hours, whether or not Reed was going to be there usually wasn’t a concern but now that he had an android partner, Connor had to wonder if the detective would be more or less unhinged with the added company. They didn’t see much of each other and in the past few weeks Reed had kept to himself, Nines standing to the right of him, always. He didn’t sit at his desk very often like a partner would, rather… like a human would. But Nines wasn’t human. From Hank’s take on the conversation this morning that was made blatantly clear. He still didn’t know how he felt about it either. ‘Maybe IT took him home’ did Hank still think of Connor that way? And did he correct himself just to save face? Why was this even an issue all of a sudden? It clearly wasn’t an issue for Gavin, he was very blunt about how he felt concerning androids, and he wasn’t afraid to voice it every chance he got. Still. Something had changed, Reed was more reserved with his opinions on the subject. Perhaps working with an android had softened him, or maybe it was because androids were now officially recognized as citizens. They had income, could hold residence. It’d been only been a week or so since Markus had met with President Warren. But this was progress no human or android could have ever dreamed of.  
Connor clenched his fists. These feelings he had were making everything more complicated. He’d second guessed himself before but this? This was torture, the constant uncertainty no matter what was said or… implied. How did humans deal with these types of thoughts? Or was all of this just some kind of error in his programming? It had to get easier right? Kamski said it would take time. He didn’t say how much but… it was bound to get easier at some point. Wasn’t it?

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Around the same time, Reed was waking up to find he wasn’t on the couch where he’d passed out but instead was in his own bed. He shot up but instantly regretted it, groaning and rubbing his forehead with his palm.  
“Son of a bitch.” He cursed, his head was pounding and his arm ached. Though he shoved that aside upon noticing something else. He wasn’t wearing much in the way of clothes.  
“What the fuck?” he looked around the room wide eyed, craning his neck to look over the sides of the bed for his shirt or pants. That were no where to be seen. Soot, his grey cat sat on the window sill while Chester, his orange cat laid curled up on the chair next to the bed.  
“Detective. You’re awake.” Reed pulled the blanket up to his chest  
“Where the fuck are my clothes?” Nines ignored the question and sat down on the edge of the bed. Reed pulled back as the android reached for his arm.  
“I need to assess your wound Detective.”  
“No you don’t. Where the fuck are my clothes asshole?” Soot chattered at the birds outside, Nines stared clearly intrigued by the odd noise the cat was making.  
“Clothes!” Nines looked back to Reed, clearly distraught  
“Where?”  
“In the wash. You were filthy.” Gavin motioned to his closet with a tilt of his head  
“Get me something then.” Nines head turned from the closet then back to Gavin.  
“It’s important to let your body breathe Detective. You ran a fever in the night, getting sick won’t benefit your recovery.”  
“You took my clothes off?”  
“Correct.”  
“I told you not to touch any of my stuff.”  
Nines titled his head  
“I assumed you were referring to material possessions.”  
“My clothes are part of my stuff asshole!” Nines eyes moved over Gavin who knit his brow, attempting to pull the blanket up further  
“Don’t fucking scan me!”  
“I’m merely assessing your physical well being.”  
“You’re being fucking weird is what you’re doing, now get outta my room.”  
“Detective I-“  
“OUT!” Nines stood and walked to the door  
“I’ll be in the living room.” As soon as he was gone Gavin shuffled toward the edge of the bed, wrapping the blanket around himself like a towel. He shut the bedroom door and went to his closet, grabbing anything within reach without dropping the blanket. Nines sat on the sofa listening to Gavin curse as he dressed himself. Chester padded into the kitchen and sat waiting to be fed the moment the door was open again. Gavin grumbled pulling his shirt down and rustling his hair as he rounded into the kitchen for a glass of water. Nines turned and watched him, which didn’t go unnoticed.

“What?”  
“You don’t look well.”  
“It’s called a hangover. It happens.” Nines looked him over which only annoyed Reed further, he’d gotten used to that gaze Nines had whenever he was analyzing something. It wasn’t twitchy like Connor, this was a more… intense scrutiny or something.  
“Stop scanning me!”  
“You’re still running a fever and your wounds need to be reassessed.”  
“Go home.” He took another gulp of water, stomach rolling over itself and head pounding.  
“As I’ve said before Detective, I do not have a place of residence, where would you suggest I go?”  
“I don’t care where you go just go” Reed retorted, flipping Nines off before going down the hall to the bathroom. Nines stood and followed not far behind, watching from the doorway as Gavin rummaged in the medicine cabinet for anything he could to take the edge off the migraine he knew was coming.  
“Will you fuck off?” he cursed as Nines took hold of his damaged arm again, he tried to pull away but the androids grip was like a vice, Reed winced as Nines lifted a corner of the soiled bandage. His stitches had come undone and he'd begun to bleed again. the android suddenly moved forward and licked some of the fresh blood, causing Reed to pull back harder this time.  
“What the hell are you doing?!” Nines LED spun yellow a moment  
“Checking for infections. None have presented.” Reed pulled his arm free and wiped the blood away with his free hand.  
“Well they fucking will if you keep licking me! What the hell was that all about?”  
“I was running a sample of your blood.”  
“You’re messed up.” Gavin said with finger pointed and bloody arm still pulled to his chest. He moved back bumping against the tub as Nines reached for him again.  
“No no no. Don’t touch me.” Nines looked from Gavin’s clearly disgusted face, back to his bleeding arm.  
“You’ve torn stitches.”  
“I can manage. Go away.” Soot looked into the bathroom, tail straight and eyes watching the two of them intently.  
“I can help you Gavin.”  
“You helped enough. Just go away.”  
“Detective.”  
“Get out!” Nines LED flickered red before returning blue again.  
“No.”  
“No?” Gavin side stepped to try and get past the android but Nines wasn’t moving, and there wasn’t much room to maneuver being backed against the bath tub.  
“I don’t want your help. You stripped me, you moved me and you licked my fucking arm. I don’t need anymore help if that’s the kinda shit you think is helpful.”  
“It was not my intention to upset you. Your body was uncomfortably contorted on the sofa so I relocated you, your temperature rose considerably so I removed your clothing and your wounds are bleeding again, if an infection were present you may require medical attention. By analyzing it I ruled out the need for any. I’ve only acted in your best interest Detective.” Gavin shut his eyes tight, rubbing the side of his head with his palm. Yep, now it was a migraine.  
“You want me to thank you or something?” Nines turned, plucking a bottle from the medicine cabinet.  
“That isn’t necessary.” He popped the lid and shook out two pills handing them to Reed, who took them and with effort swallowed them.  
“Sit down.” Normally Reed would have protested to an android telling him what to do, but his head was pounding and blood was dripping from his elbow onto the floor now. He did as he was told and sat down on the closed toilet. Nines took out the first aid kit again. For someone so careless with himself, Reed kept his medical supplies fully stocked. Either he was paranoidly over prepared or just incredibly accident prone. Nines placed one hand under Gavin’s bloodied elbow and pushed it up, using the other to wipe long lines of blood back to its source. The next couple minutes were filled with curses and groans as Nines cleaned and re-sutured several torn stitches before finally re-bandaging the wound.

“So why dontcha have a place yet?” Nines watched Soot as she curled around Gavin’s legs who patted her purring little head  
“The station provides me with-“  
“Not what I asked.” Nines turned his eyes up to meet Reed’s, elbow resting on one knee.  
“Fowler issues you a paycheck, yer considered a citizen. Why waste all the effort your head honcho put in by plugging in at the station every night?” Nines squared his shoulders, hands on his thighs, LED spinning a flicker of yellow.  
“Yer not like Anderson’s lapdog.” Nines didn’t respond  
“Yer not deviant, are you?” there was that look, when Nines interrogated a suspect or was clearly done with being talked down to by someone. That look that sent prickles up Gavin’s spine.  
“I fail to see how that is relevant to my becoming a valid citizen.” Soot walked in circles before lying down on the shower mat.  
“If you’re suggesting that I don’t have a mind of my own then you’re quite mistaken.” Ooh struck a nerve, Gavin grinned not taking his eyes off Nines, who wasn’t about to lose this staring contest.  
“Just asking. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Nines eyes narrowed and Gavin had to wonder if his big mouth was just digging him a bigger hole at this point. The android stood, placing the first aid kit back where it belonged and turning the sink taps on  
“Perhaps I should look into acquiring my own space.” He stated flatly washing his hands clean.  
“Couldn’t hurt.” Gavin said patting Nines hard on the shoulder tossing the android a towel as he exited the room.  
“Not that I don’t just love the little slumber party we’ve been having here.” Nines barely smiled as he dried his hands, Reed felt a heat creep up the back of his neck and into his ears, Nines seemed to notice which made it that much worse.  
“I was under the impression that slumber parties were supposed to be enjoyable. Did you find my presence here enjoyable detective?” now the heat was in his face and Reed had to splutter and turn before he gave himself away  
“Pfft no! You practically assaulted me last night you asshole.” Nines walked slowly out of the bathroom as Reed cursed all the way into the kitchen where he yelled at Chester for lying on the table who proceeded to then run across the counter and knock things onto the floor.  
“Fuckin’ cat! Yeah you better run!” Nines watched Chester skid down the hallway into the bedroom as Reed grumbled, picking up fallen dishes and take out containers. Only stopping as Nines began putting his shoes on  
“You stay here to fuck with me but not to help me clean?” Nines pulled at the sleeve of his jacket not looking over  
“I think you can manage without me now.” Reed chuckled  
“Yer an asshole.”  
“So, I’ve been told.” Nines smirked which somehow caused Reed to do the same  
“Get outta here.” Nines gave a nod and took his leave. Shit. Things were getting fucking strange in the feelings department. Soot walked right through the kitchen chaos to jump up and sit on the kitchen table. Reed heaved everything into the sink with a sigh.  
“You fuckers are gonna be the death of me.” He said pointing a finger at the cat who just rubbed against the accusing digit as the washer dinged the end of it’s wash cycle.  
“What am I gonna do with you?”


	8. Fragile and Unpredictable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On their way to work Hank and Connor have a case fall into their lap, and Gavin is still healing but that doesn't mean he's out of the loop.

It was a quiet drive to work. Connor in the passenger seat looking out the window. Hank driving, one hand on the wheel the other in his lap, the little hula girl dancing on the dash as they headed to the station. Billboards covered in anti android graffiti being washed clean. The constant fluttering of pigeons overhead as they drove through the city, not unlike any other day. Except maybe for the quick stop and sudden spray of water.

“Aw Christ.” Connor looked to Hank and then to where his dismay was rooted. A hydrant was spraying water straight up, crews were working to shut it down and move the car that had slammed into it but it looked as if it’d only occurred a few minutes ago. So, there was a lot more scrambling around than anything being done about the actual problem.  
“Wasn’t bad enough that its only part way through the week, now we gotta detour cuz of sheer stupidity.”  
“Perhaps we should assist them?” Hank looked over, then to his onboard tablet and skimmed through. Looking back to the crashed car then back to his tablet.  
“There’s a report of a stolen vehicle. Matches the make and color.”  
“License plate?” Hank shook his head  
“Doesn’t say.”  
“Maybe we should check it out. Just to be safe.” Hank sighed as Connor waited for an answer  
“It’s probably nothing.”  
“Then it won’t take long.” Before Hank could protest Connor was out of the car and heading to the scene. Hank groaned and pulled the car closer to where the city crew had placed one measly DO NOT ENTER sign.  
“This better be worth it.” He grumbled  
When Hank finally caught up, Connor was kneeling to the rear of the vehicle, not at all phased by the water coming down on him.  
“It’s registered to an Allison Finley.” Hank looked around, there were a few bystanders and the city workers looking for the main water junction but no one else standing around like they’d just crashed their car.  
“I don’t see anyone missing this heap.” Connor looked around, analyzing faces in the crowd. But no one of interest came up.  
“Let’s ask around.” Connor followed behind Hank who approached the crowd, flashing his badge.  
“Anybody here see what happened?” a few people wandered away from the crowd upon seeing Hank’s badge, some just shook their heads, others didn’t look pleased as Connor stood a foot away from the lieutenant.  
“A young man ran off when he couldn’t get back on the road.” Connor turned to an older woman who was pointing down the street.  
“Did you get a good look at him?” she nodded  
“He was young, had a black cap on and blue paint on his jacket.” Hank came over as Connor looked around again, this time with more purpose  
“Which way did you say he went?” she pointed down the street again.  
“What? What is it?” Hank pressed  
“An android.”

The old lady nodded at Hank who thanked her as the hydrant was finally shut off. When the gush of water receded, so did the spray and that’s when Connor spotted him. Black cap and covered in blue blood. As soon as their eyes met the android took off running with Connor pushing through the crowd to catch up.  
“Where the fuck’re you going?!” Hank bellowed, pushing through the crowd who was now watching Connor and the unknown assailant book it down the middle of the street. Hank opted for the sidewalk, but wasn’t keeping up. The android jumped the hood of a parked car and ran down an alley, Connor in hot pursuit. Jumping onto a railing and up a fire escape, the android hoped to lose his pursuer but to no avail. Hank got to a fenced alley and could go no further watching as the androids jumped from one roof top to another.  
“He’s gonna kill himself.” Hank huffed running back into the street to try and find a way to get ahead of them. Connor rolled as he landed on another rooftop, hitting the ground hard with his shoulder but he was right back to his feet in a flash. A rumble overhead signalled a coming storm but he was so close. Just inches away from the runner who all of a sudden ducked down causing Connor to topple over him and nearly slip off the roof. The runner only looked back a second before opening the roof access and disappearing down the stairs into the building. Connor swung his arm up and pulled himself to safety just as the rain started to spatter the ground. He pulled open the access door and started down the stairs, seeing the runner a few stairwells below. He’d nearly caught up when he heard Hank’s voice  
“Don’t fucking move asshole!” the assailant stopped in his tracks allowing Connor to catch up and draw his own gun.  
“Detroit police!” the runner held his hands up, the black cap covering his eyes but nothing could hide the blue blood that seeped from beneath his jacket.  
“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.” He said, hands trembling  
“Oh, I’ve heard that one before.” Hank stated, still out of breath as he came closer and pulled the runner down the two remaining stairs  
“Get on your damn knees!” the android put his hands on his head and descended slowly to his knees. Hank cuffed him as Connor came down, gun still drawn. Hank pulled off the android’s cap, it was a BL100. Connor knelt and looked at the wound beneath the android’s arm.  
“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I swear.”  
“Tell it to the judge.” Hank said pulling the android to his feet and marching him down the stairs. Connor not far behind. When they were finally outside Chris and Tina were there to meet them, along with a couple cop cars.  
“An android?” Chris looked a little surprised  
“Yeah just cause they got rights now doesn’t mean they can’t commit crimes.” Hank pushed the android towards Miller who carted him off to a waiting police cruiser.  
“You gonna tell me what the hell that was all about?” Connor watched Miller push the androids head down as he loaded him in the back seat of the squad car.  
“Hey!” Hank slapped Connor’s shoulder with the back of his hand, who didn’t respond with anything but a look  
“You wanna get yourself killed? What the hell were you doing jumping around up there?” Tina held her hand to her forehead to keep the rain from spoiling her view  
“I had it under control.”  
“Is that why I stopped him and you didn’t?” Connor exhaled in annoyance  
“You could’ve been killed!”  
“That’s a regular thing in this line of work Hank.” Tina took out her phone, Chris just shook his head as he patted the back of the cruiser that took off with the offending android inside.

**\---Wednesday April 4th, 2039---**

**TEXT : Reed (10:12 AM)**  
Anderson is ripping tinker toy a new one

 **REPLY : Chen (10:14 AM)**  
And I care because?

 **TEXT : Reed (10:15 AM)**  
It’s in the middle of the street! 

**REPLY : Chen (10:17 AM)**  
Still waiting for the part where I should care

 **TEXT : Reed (10:20 AM)**  
Old man walked off. must be serious

 **REPLY : Chen (10:22 AM)**  
Still don’t care

 **TEXT : Reed (10:26 AM)**  
How’s the arm? 

**REPLY : Chen (10:28 AM)**  
凸

 **TEXT : Reed (10:29 AM)**  
That good huh? Legs for days didn’t come to plug in last night

 **REPLY : Chen (10:32 AM)**  
He camped out here and assaulted me

 **TEXT : Reed (10:33 AM)**  
Was it good for you?

 **REPLY : Chen (10:34 AM)**  
凸 凸 凸

 **TEXT : Reed (10:37 AM)**  
You coming in today?

 **REPLY : Chen (10:40 AM)**  
No

 **TEXT : Reed (10:42 AM)**  
I’ll miss your sass

 **REPLY : Chen (10:44 AM)**  
Going back to sleep now.

 **TEXT : Reed (10:45 AM)**  
I’ll text you if anything juicy happens

 **REPLY : Chen (10:48 AM)**  
I’ll be here

Connor sat scanning through files as Hank typed up the initial report for their thrilling chase and capture of the car thieving BL100. Chris came over and sat on the corner of Hank’s desk.  
“Anything?” Chris shook his head  
“Doesn’t wanna talk to anyone.”  
“Did he say that or is he just not talking.” Hank griped, Miller looked to Connor who only met eyes with him for a second before going back to his screen  
“Well?” Chris turned back to Hank  
“I dunno. But he should get looked at, he’s bleeding all over the holding area.” Connor looked to the hall that lead to the holding cells.  
“Hank.” Chris looked to where Connor was as did Hank who swiveled in his chair to see Nines standing next to an officer, his hands covered in blue blood. Before Hank could get up Connor was already halfway there. Nines wiped his hands on the towel provided, dropping a silvery item into an evidence bag.

“What the hell happened?” Hank demanded, Nines looked from the holding cells back to the evidence bag.  
“Four-centimeter-deep stab wound, the blade broke off, I retrieved it for you.” Hank took the evidence bag from the officer and looked to Connor who was slowly side stepping past Nines.  
“This was from the runner?” Nines continued to wipe his hands  
“He’s the only android you have in holding so I assume so.” Hank rolled his eyes. Why did androids have to be such smart mouths? Connor made his way to the last holding cell to see the android in question sitting at the far-left corner, holding himself and curled into a fetal position. Hank strolled over as Connor knelt with one hand on the window.  
“It’s alright now.” He said softly, the android peeked from behind his crossed arms at the words.  
“Nobody is going to hurt you.” Hank paced back to where Miller and Nines stood.  
“So exactly what happened?” Nines shrugged discarding the soiled towel to a nearby trash bin  
“He was bleeding and crying. I analyzed his physical integrity, found the offending object and removed it.”  
“That’s it?” Nines nodded  
“You’re welcome.” Hank groaned as the android walked away as if what he’d done were as casual as stomping out a cigarette.  
“Lieutenant.” Hank looked to where Miller was motioning. The injured android was now right up against the glass as Connor whispered to him. LED blinking yellow as Connor’s remained a cool blue. Hank watched a moment longer before sighing and heading back to his desk. Miller confused as to whether he should stay or go looked one way and the next before opting for the break room.

“You’re alright.” Connor said softly, the android rubbed his hands over each other. Clearly distraught, continuously shaking his head.  
“No ones going to hurt you.” Connor reassured  
“She told me to run.” His hands shook as he tried to desperately recount what had happened  
“It was so fast I- I didn’t know what else to do...” he sobbed, Connor tilted his head listening intently  
“The car you were driving belonged to an Allison Finley.” the android shook his head, distressed at the mention of the name  
“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone… I didn’t mean- I didn’t-“Connor looked up as someone stood next to him  
“You shouldn’t interrogate a suspect in this environment.” It was Nines, Connor looked back to the android who sobbed the same thing over and over. _He didn’t mean to hurt anyone._  
“There is surveillance in this room but not as advanced as where interrogations are meant to be conducted.” Connor didn’t look up, one hand still pressed against the glass  
“Do you always do what you’re told.” Nines was un-amused by the question  
“Protocol is in place for a reason.”  
“Not every case can be solved by following protocol.”  
“And you believe what you are doing now will bring your case some form of clarity?” now it was Connor who was un-amused  
“There’s nothing wrong with empathizing with a victim.”  
“If he is. Indeed. A victim.” Connor stood, about a foot lower than Nines who stared down at the suspect who was now slinking back to his corner, a long smear of blue blood trailing its way back with him.  
“What makes you think he isn’t?”  
“What makes you think he is?” Connor knit his brow, he hadn’t really gotten to know Nines, not that he didn’t have the time to, but being constantly associated with Detective Reed made him hard to approach. He didn’t want to be on bad terms with anyone but it was beginning to look like he and Nines didn’t share the same methods when it came to police work.  
“This isn’t your case.” Nines tilted his head slightly, watching as the wounded android finally made it back to his corner  
“I suppose it isn’t.” he turned to Connor  
“Carry on as you see fit.” He took one step back then turned with fluid motion walking back into the bullpen. Leaving Connor standing in front of the holding cell.

**\---Wednesday April 4th, 2039---**

**TEXT : Chen (4:25 PM)**  
U around?

 **REPLY : Reed (4:28 PM)**  
Finishing a report. What’s up?

 **TEXT : Chen (4:30 PM)**  
Bored. Dipshit show up?

 **REPLY : Reed (4:33 PM)**  
Who are we talking abt?

 **TEXT : Chen (4:35 PM)**  
Tin can 2.0

 **REPLY : Reed (4:37 PM)**  
He’s around. Got into it with ur fave duo today

 **TEXT : Chen (4:38 PM)**  
Do tell

 **REPLY : Reed (4:40 PM)**  
Heard from Miller he scrapped with baby lieutenant about a recent case

 **TEXT : Chen (4:42 PM)**  
So no bromance between bots then?

 **REPLY : Reed (4:45 PM)**  
Guess not

 **TEXT : Chen (4:48 PM)**  
Meet me for a drink @ 6?

 **REPLY : Reed (5:01 PM)**  
Can’t. Got late night patrol

 **TEXT : Chen (5:04 PM)**  
Boo you whore

 **REPLY : Reed (5:06 PM)**  
Ask daddy long legs

 **TEXT : Chen (5:08)**  
凸

 **REPLY: Reed (5:10 PM)**  
Afraid he’ll say yes?

 **TEXT: Chen (5:13 PM)**  
STFU 凸 Droids don’t have phones anyways genius

 **REPLY : Reed (5:15 PM)**  
Text his ID number

 **TEXT: Chen (5:17 PM)**  
????

 **REPLY: Reed (5:20 PM)**  
Anderson says if you text an android’s ID number they get a text. Like in their head or something

 **TEXT : Chen (5:22 PM)**  
Why are you asking him???

 **REPLY : Reed (5:23 PM)**  
I asked on your behalf

 **TEXT : Chen (5:30 PM)**  
WTF?! YOU DID NOT!!!  
**(5:31 PM)**  
U better be kidding  
**(5:32 PM)**  
SERIOUSLY  
**(5:33 PM)**  
CHEN? 

**REPLY : Reed (5:37 PM)**  
I was

 **TEXT : Chen (5:39 PM)**  
Good

 **REPLY : Reed (5:41 PM)**  
I asked your partner

 **TEXT : Chen (5:44 PM)**  
凸凸凸凸凸

Hank sat in his boxers and a t-shirt on one end of the couch flipping through channels. Which he’d been doing now for the past 10 minutes. Connor could hear the annoying click the television made each time it changed, Sumo was lying on the floor next to the bed while Connor attempted to read a worn paperback he’d found earlier, stretched out in slacks and his white dress shirt. It wasn’t at all interesting but it was better than sitting in silence with Hank, who was still pissed off about this morning. Finally, the tv was shut off, Connor skimmed through a few pages as Hank poured himself a glass of whiskey. Drank it back then opted for the bottle instead. Sumo whined upon hearing a thumping noise. Connor looked up as well but only got up when the thumping continued. When he entered the kitchen, Hank was purposely pounding his fist into the dent he’d made nearly a month ago. He continued until the drywall finally broke through into the insulation, satisfied with the damage he took a long swig from his bottle, eyeing Connor as he ambled back toward the living room. Sumo laid next to his food dish and huffed as Hank sat back down on the couch, kicking things off the coffee table.  
“Is there something you want to talk about Lieutenant?”  
“No.” Hank snarked taking another drink and continuing to kick things off the coffee table  
“Why do you ask?” Connor came to stand in front of him, the coffee table between them.  
“Because you’re throwing a tantrum.” Hank promptly pushed the coffee table toward Connor with his foot. Who didn’t budge just looked on clearly un-amused. Hank took another drink.  
“You shouldn’t drink so much.” Hank pushed the table again this time forcing Connor to move back. Taking another long swig that dribbled down his chin.  
“Ah!” he exclaimed, holding the bottle by the neck.  
“Lieutenant.”  
“Why do you care what I do?” Hank barked, Connor crossed his arms  
“You don’t listen to a damn word I say. Why should I listen to you?”  
“Because you’re going to kill yourself.”  
“That’s what I said to you! But do you ever listen? Nooo!” Connor sighed as Hank stood to leave  
“This isn’t the same thing.”  
“The hell it isn’t.” Connor came around and stood in front of Hank reaching for the bottle who pulled it away  
“Give it to me.”  
“No.”  
“Lieutenant.”  
“Fuck you I said no!” Connor reached again grabbing the bottle but Hank pushed him back which sent them both falling backwards onto the floor. Sumo barked, the bottle hit the floor and rolled a trail of whiskey leaking out onto the carpet. Hank propped himself up on his hands. Connor’s LED blinked yellow as he looked up at him, grey hair falling around his face, eyes wide and searching for words. Connor pulled a knee up, Hank could feel the fabric of Connor’s pants against his bare leg. Everything inside of him told him to run. Just run and lock yourself in the bedroom. Connor brought up a hand gently brushing his fingers against the older man’s cheek. Hank closed his eyes, he could feel a chill creep up his spine, snaking its way behind his head.

“I thought I was gonna lose you.” Hank’s words are gruff and low as Connor continues to stroke his cheek with his thumb. He can’t believe this is happening. This can’t be happening right now. Now there are two hands on either side of Hank’s face but he still can’t open his eyes, he can feel tears burning at the edges but he refuses to give in. One hand remains on his cheek while the other trails down his throat and curls into the collar of his shirt and starts to pull him down. Now those eyes are open. Connor’s lips gently parted, eyes fixed on Hank’s  
“Con I- I can’t lose y-“but he doesn’t get to finish, the kiss forces all the pain and worry back, it’s so gentle but inviting and Hank can’t help himself. He presses closer, as Connor balls the shirt in his fist, pulling Hank down to the floor. It’s a flurry of kissing, touching and moaning before Hank gasps for breath. Connor now seated on top of him. Whiskey continues to soak into the carpet, as Connor stands and extends a hand to Hank, still lying flat on his back. He pulls him up with effort and it’s an awkward two seconds that Hank looks around at the mess before saying fuck it and pulls Connor in for another kiss. Slowly backing him toward the hallway, undoing a few buttons before opting to just rip the android’s shirt open. Connor smiles against Hank’s whiskey coated mouth. Before being pushed back onto the bed, Hank kicks the door closed turning his attention back to Connor, legs hanging off the bed, shirt open exposing pale skin and beautifully defined muscles. But he’s stopped as he approaches.

“I want to see you.” Hank looks down at himself then back to Connor who is sitting up now, hands on his thighs.  
“Con I dunno.” Hank shivers as a hand is placed beneath his shirt.  
“I wanna see.” But Hank just stands there frozen, Connor reaches forward with both hands and slowly guides the t-shirt up but is stopped.  
“I can’t I-“ the worry in the older man’s voice prompts Connor to stand. Cupping Hank’s face and kissing him gently  
“Use me.” Hank looks confused. Connor kisses him again  
“Use me.” Slowly he pulls the dress shirt open rolling his head back invitingly. Christ, he was so fucking hot. Hank felt stiff against his boxers as Connor opened his mouth repeating those words. _Use me._ Hank placed a rough hand on Connor’s waist pulling him close, kissing and biting the android’s neck, who shuddered and moaned at the sensation.  
“C’mere.” Hank lifted Connor and pushed him back onto the bed, crawling on top of him one hand sliding up between his legs. Connor’s eyes roll back at the sensation and Hank is a little surprised to feel the length beneath his palm but it only makes him harder.  
“Christ he really did give you everything.” Connor looked up  
“I told you I was state of the art now.” Hank chuckled  
“I always knew Kamski was some kinda pervert,” Connor squirmed under Hanks touch, the rain continued pouring outside, the room only lit by the bedside lamp that flickered as the lightning flashed. Connor shivered as his pants were undone, pulled down to reveal his stiff and leaking cock. Hank watched the android twist and whimper as he slowly ran the palm of his hand up and down his shaft.  
“You like that huh?” Connor nodded, eyes shut and mouth open. The lamp flickered again as lightning flashed and thunder rumbled overhead. Connor held in his breath as Hank ran his tongue up and down his length. He took a few shallow breaths and groaned as the older man took him in and went down. He tasted sweet, Hank wasn’t sure what the clear liquid was but it was sweet, it numbed his tongue a little too. But none of that mattered as much as how his tongue was making Connor feel. Hank pulled away taking a few long breaths, he wasn’t as young as he used to be and this was labor intensive work. Connor’s LED flickered from yellow to blue as he watched Hank recollect himself. He moved for the bedside table but couldn’t quite reach, Hank stood and walked over tugging the drawer open. Connor sat up as Hank produced the curious blue bottle from weeks earlier. Connor took it from him, pulling him down to sit. Hank sat against the headboard. As Connor now stood letting his pants fall around his ankles, the rain pattered against the window outside.

“I dunno if-“  
“Shh.” Connor instructed looking over the bottle before setting it back down. Hank looked nervously at the lamp that flickered, Connor straddled Hanks legs pulling the older man’s shirt up over his head. Who crossed his arms the moment the garment was discarded to the floor, Connor took hold on Hank’s hands kissing his fingers, then his palm, his wrist before moving forward to close the space between them. Sweet whiskey danced on Connor’s tongue as he broke away kissing down Hank’s neck who hummed in delight, soft hands snaking up his chest through grey curls of hair, finger tips pressing into scars, tracing every inch of his torso.  
“You don’t have to.“ Hank protested as Connor shifted downward, fingers hooked into either side of Hank’s boxers.  
“I want to.” He breathed exposing Hank’s cock, ropey with muscle standing tall amid a swath of curly hair. He was gorgeous. His body soft but defined where muscle still hid beneath a man who’d let himself die a little everyday for the past 3 years. Covered with work related war wounds, faded tattoo’s and a shame Connor couldn’t place. The light flickered again before finally buzzing out completely. There was a sudden shift in Hank that Connor could feel without analyzing, it was the light, he didn’t want to be seen so vulnerable. Whether it was because of what he thought the android might think of him or what he thought about himself Connor wasn’t certain. But none of that mattered right now, right now he wanted Hank to feel good, the way he’d made Connor feel good and he always aimed to accomplish his missions.  
“Jesus Christ!” Hank cursed through his teeth, head against the wall as Connor took him all the way down. God did he feel good. His tongue warm and wet against his aching flesh, mouth hollowed as he moved up and down. Fuck, he wanted to savor every last second of it. But he was getting close, and he didn’t want this to end.  
“Con- Connor st- stop.” He whined as Connor pulled back, he didn’t want him to but he was gonna fucking explode if things kept going the way they were. There was a strange snap in the darkness, the only light illuminating the room a distant street light and Connor’s LED. Hank gasped as Connor pumped his cock, he felt warm and tingly and it didn’t take long to figure out what that snap was when the android was straddling him.  
“You sure?” Hank asked, Connor nodded against his shoulder. Hank reached a hand between his legs, pressing up with his middle finger against warm puckered skin. Connor gasped as Hank pushed up against him, slowly eeking his way further. Soon it was two fingers, pushing and curling as Connor moaned against his shoulder, one arm around Hank’s neck and the other against the wall.  
“I want to f- feel you.” Hank slowly pulled his fingers back, hands on the android’s hips, guiding him down gently, at first there was an apprehensive whimper but little by little Hank worked him down. Connor pushed Hank deeper as he slid down, hands on his shoulders. Hank rocked forward and Connor matched the rhythm. Both breathing heavily, Hank bit down on his bottom lip, fuck he was so close. The lightning flashed illuminating the erotic display. Connor riding him, LED blinking from yellow to red, mouth open moaning his name. Hank pulled him forward, closing the gap between them, kisses hard and fast as Hank felt himself come. The sensation was incredible, as Connor spilled his own release between them. Who knew androids could orgasm? Kamski really had thought of everything. Hank groaned, helping Connor to roll onto his side. The rain still pouring outside, Hank wiped himself off with his t-shirt before turning back to Connor whose LED flickered yellow.

“You alright?” Connor nodded, eyes closed  
“Yes. Just- committing things to memory.” Hank chuckled  
“Are you serious?” Connor nestled into the crook of Hank’s neck.  
“I like to remember what you like.” Hank pulled the blanket up, they could sort out the mess of offending fluids in the morning.  
“Well hopefully it was good for you too.” Now it was Connor who laughed  
“It was. Thank you.” Hank sighed, kissing the top of Connor’s head.  
“You’re a real pain y’know that?” Connor nodded, LED a cool blue once more  
“Mhm.” He hadn’t planned on any of this, maybe that’s what Kamski had meant when he said humans were fragile and unpredictable. Clearly the latter was true, but Connor had been the one to make the first move. Was it the alcohol that made Hank more uninhibited? Or was it the tension that had built between them for so long? Whatever it was, it had happened. They’d consummated this lingering beast that had sat beneath the surface for months now. Now were things going to be easier? Somehow Connor wasn’t sure. But all that could be set aside. The rain continued to drum against the roof and the leak began to drip in the hallway once more. Everything was gonna change now. But he could manage. As long as Hank was there, he could manage.


	9. Reality and Fantasy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the morning after their night of passion, the gravity of what they've stumbled into hits Connor and Hank in different ways

“I’m still mad at you y’know.” Connor straightened his collar turning at Hank’s words. They’d laid in bed for what seemed an eternity that morning, the room cool with the spring mist of dawn, clothes scattering the floor and memories of the night before flooding back.  
“You could’ve been killed.” Connor buttoned up his shirt from bottom to top as Hank continued  
“I know you’re built for that kinda thing but it doesn’t change the fact that you were being reckless.” He began picking up the clothes that were strewn about the room, but ultimately abandoned them to a pile near the dresser, pulling on the handle to rummage through and find himself a clean pair of pants.  
“Did you want me to let him get away?” Hank felt a twinge of annoyance at the question but held back to urge to throw an ugly comeback  
“I wanted you to think before you ran after him like a dog with a bone.” Connor contemplated the metaphor as he stood, tucking his shirt into his pants.  
“I analyzed the fastest route to apprehend the suspect.”  
“Yeah and I was the one who ended up catching him.” The conversation was going in a circle now. Hank was now at the closet, skimming through his shirts, back still turned. Connor knelt and looked under the bed, retrieving his belt from where it had been tossed. Hank finally decided on a loud striped shirt and took it with him into the bathroom, where he washed his hands and face. Connor fanned out the blanket but upon analyzing the sheets he opted to remove the bedding and take it to the wash instead.

“Did he say anything to you?” Connor poured the detergent turning back as Hank called out to him from the bathroom, looking for the toothpaste that wasn’t where it usually was.  
“Who are we talking about?” Hank rolled his eyes, finally locating the toothpaste and squeezing way too much out onto the brush  
“The suspect. Who do you think?” Connor set the washer and came to stand in the open doorway  
“He said he didn’t mean to hurt anyone.” Hank snorted as he brushed vigorously  
“That’s original.” He remarked between foamy lips, Sumo scratched at the back door prompting Connor to let him out, the grass glistened in the morning sun and Sumo of course jumped right into a large muddy puddle.  
“We ought to check in on the owner of that stolen vehicle.” Connor turned as Hank joined him at the backdoor, instantly annoyed when he saw what Sumo was doing  
“Get outta the mud ya big galoot!” Sumo paid him no mind and continued to bound around the muddy yard. Hank stepped out bare foot onto the cool wet grass to grab the dog by the collar and haul him back into the house, Sumo put the brakes on as Hank attempted to drag him into the bathroom but Connor helped to push him along grabbing a towel to wipe off the dogs muddy paws. When they were satisfied they’d gotten the majority of the mud off Sumo made a b-line for the living room, where Hank again yelled at him for jumping on the couch. There were also wet tracks in the hall now, due to the leak in the roof. Hank groaned going back to the bathroom to grab yet another towel, throwing it down in the hall and pushing it around with his feet to soak up the water.

“I’m sorry if I made you worry.” Hank continued to push the towel around with his feet, visibly annoyed with the morning so far  
“You always make me worry.” He muttered, kicking the towel aside and heading back to the bedroom to find socks.  
“It’s never my intention.” Hank sat on the bed pulling on his socks as Connor stood near the open door.  
“You say that but when I tell you NOT to do something, you go ahead and do it anyways.” He wasn’t wrong, when it came to most things Connor felt perhaps, he knew better what the right course of action was. Hank usually disagreed, seeing as Connor couldn’t constantly be re-uploaded into a new model every time he fucked up now and even if he could that wasn’t the point, he was so much more reactive than he was responsive. That had been a big difference between him and Nines. Nines seemed to know how to talk his way through things more than fight through them, that wasn’t to say Connor was pig headed, he was just… impulsive, so much so that it scared Hank. He couldn’t have another incident like the explosion. He couldn’t take it and if he could help it, he wouldn’t ever allow things to get that bad again. Connor had no response for Hank, who could see the android’s wheels spinning, trying to comprehend the gravity of his actions within the core of Hank’s words.  
“We should get going.” Connor nodded as Hank moved past him. It was going to be an interesting day.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Nines stood in the interrogation room alongside Connor as Hank attempted to interrogate the BL100. During the night it had been discovered that the owner of the stolen vehicle, Allison Finley, was taken to the hospital. She’d been beaten severely and her ex-husband was found dead on the property. The android’s story was that he and Allison were close after she divorced her abusive husband, when their relationship became intimate her ex tracked them down and flew into a rage. Blaming the android for everything, in an attempt to defend Allison, the android was injured, they fought and according to the BL100 the husband was killed, but he hadn’t meant for things to get so out of hand. He only wanted to stop him from hurting Allison. She told him to run and he did as he was told, but he didn’t know how to drive the vehicle and eventually crashed.

“Do you believe him?” Nines asked, not taking his eyes from Hank and the suspect.  
“Why would he lie?”  
“Androids and humans don’t usually form romantic relationships.” Connor didn’t say anything as Hank continued to press the android for answers. It maintained its innocence and assured the lieutenant that Allison would corroborate the story when she was able. Not being able to move any further with the interrogation Hank motioned for officers to return the BL100 to a holding cell. Hank came into the dark room that looked into interrogation.  
“Not much more we can do at this point.”  
“The suspect in question sustained a stab wound from the aggressor.”  
“And?” Nines took the case file from Hank and opened it, pointing to the coroner’s report  
“The aggressors wounds do not match that of a blade with a missing tip.” Hank snatched the file back and read for himself  
“So what? he never said he used the same knife he was stabbed with.” Nines looked unimpressed, if he could even pull off an emotion besides resting bitch face.  
“The suspect claimed to have grappled with the deceased after it was injured. If that were the case its probable that the same weapon that injured our suspect would have been the same weapon that killed the aggressor.” Hank looked to Connor  
“You getting any of this?” Nines looked back to Connor before returning his steely gaze to Hank  
“Your partner does not share my assumptions. He believes the suspect is telling the truth.” Connor stood brushing past Nines who wasn’t at all phased by the cold shoulder, Hank closed the file as Connor left the room  
“Excuse me.”  
“Of course, Lieutenant.” Connor was already halfway to his desk before Hank caught up with him  
“What is your deal?” he asked pulling Connor back by the shoulder  
“He’s so sure he’s right.” Hank threw up his hands and shrugged  
“So what? You gonna throw a tantrum every time someone doesn’t agree with you?”  
“No.”  
“Then what the hell is the problem?” Connor looked to the holding cell where the BL100 stood behind the glass, watching them.  
“Nothing. There is no problem.” Hank groaned  
“Fine. But you can’t get all pissy every time that asshole gets your dander up.” Nines exited the interrogation room, barely glancing in their direction as he smoothly walked past them and made his way to Fowler’s office. Connor crossed his arms as Hank took the case file back to his desk and began typing up a report. Chen quickly turned back to her phone as Connor looked in her direction. Maybe Nines was right, maybe this android was guilty. It wasn’t that that bothered him so much, it was the general flippantness he had towards the fact androids and humans could be involved with each other in a capacity outside of a work relationship. Maybe being around Gavin so much had warped his perception of what a healthy relationship with a human looked like. Whatever it was, it didn’t endear them to each other.

**TEXT : Reed (10:15 AM)  
Doing any better?**

**REPLY : Chen (10:19 AM)  
Not doin so hot actually**

**TEXT : Reed (10:20 AM)  
Everything alright? Need me to stop by?**

She didn't get a response. An hour went by and Chen texted over and over but nothing, Nines came back from Fowler's office finally, sat at his desk and began to work.  
“Dammit Reed! Pick up!” Chen cursed as she dialed and redialed Gavin’s number, this repetition eventually caught Nines attention

_**‘This is Reed. Leave a message. Or don’t. See if I care.’** _

“Gav? It’s Tina, pick up. I need to know you’re okay. Call me back.” She sat there a few minutes constantly picking up her phone to see if there was a message but nothing.  
“Is the detective in some kind of trouble?” Tina turned at the question, Nines just looked at her LED blinking yellow for a moment. She looked around the room before coming over to the android’s desk, she pulled up the text and showed it to him  
“He’s not getting back to me.” She said softly, Nines was unsure as to why this conversation was to be concealed from the rest of the office but he obliged Chen’s secrecy.  
“Perhaps he’s come down with a fever and has fallen asleep.” Tina moved a bit closer which was somewhat unsettling for Nines, he wasn’t sure why but her closeness was uncomfortable and he moved back in his chair to put some distance between them.  
“If he’s sick, he’s not gonna go to a doctor. He’ll drop dead in that hole of an apartment before he asks anyone for help.”  
“You’re suggesting someone should check in on him?” Chen pointed  
“Yeah. You.” Nines sat with the objective a moment before pushing his chair back further and stood up  
“Very well.” Tina watched as the android turned on his heels and moved with perfect fluidity out of the office. Hopefully Reed hadn’t gotten himself into anything too ridiculous. But with Gavin you could never be too sure.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Connor stood next to Hank who sat next to the hospital bed as Allison Finley, weak and battered tried to recount the specifics of what had transpired between her ex-husband and the BL100. Who she informed them was named Jason.  
“What happened after your husband broke into the residence.”  
“Ex-husband. We’re divorced.” She swallowed hard, her head was bandaged and one eye was bright purple and swollen shut, her arm was broken and her body covered in stitches and bruises.  
“Sorry. Ex-husband.” Hank corrected himself  
“Where’s Jason?” Hank looked to Connor who maintained a neutral expression, hands behind his back  
“He’s down at the station.”  
“Is he okay?” Hank nodded  
“He was banged up pretty good but we had an android on site patch him up.” She blinked back tears, swallowing thickly, lips pursed together as Hank continued to ask questions. As it had turned out, when Jason was stabbed the blade got stuck in a bio component, they’d grappled with each other and it had been a broken table leg that was used to fend off the ex-husband. A nail had pierced his throat and he eventually bled out. Jason had taken a few blows to the head so it was likely that there were pockets in his memory that were damaged, explaining why the table leg wasn’t mentioned. Allison repeated over and over that Jason never meant to hurt anyone and was only trying to protect her  
“I would be dead right now if it weren’t for him.” Hank thanked her and took his leave as a nurse came in, suggesting they let her rest. Hank closed up a worn notepad and tucked it into his inside coat pocket as the nurse shut the door behind them.

“So,” they walked side by side down the hall  
“You were right. It was self defense.” Connor didn’t say anything as they continued down the hall, nurses and doctors bustling by with clipboards and carts, patients being pushed in wheelchairs and the echo of voices filled the white washed halls as they made their way to the elevator. Connor pushed the button for the main level as the doors slid shut. Hank crossed his arms watching the numbers decrease as they descended  
“What did that asshole say to you anyways?” Connor turned his eyes from the falling numbers to Hank then back again.  
“It’s not important.”  
“It clearly is. You’ve been quiet since this morning.” The elevator reached the main level, Connor moved forward as the doors slid open. Hank a few paces behind him, as they reached the car Hank stopped. Connor stood by the locked passenger door waiting for Hank to go around and unlock his side but he just stood there with his arms crossed looking down at his feet, pacing from one end of the hood to the other. Connor continued to wait but it was becoming more and more obvious that Hank wasn’t going to get in the car until the android came clean.

“He said androids and humans can’t maintain intimate relationships.” Hank shuffled a stone around with his foot.  
“And?”  
“And what? That’s what he said.”  
“Do you believe him?” it wasn’t a question he expected but based on his behavior he understood why Hank was asking.  
“I don’t have a lot of experience on the subject.” Hank looked up, not satisfied with the answer  
“Uh huh. Neither do I. But that’s not what I asked.” Connor pulled on the door handle, he didn’t want to have this conversation and Hank knew it. But if they wanted to move forward with… whatever it was they had between each other then they had to be able to talk to each other.  
“I don’t know.” that wasn’t the answer Hank wanted either, but at least it was honest.  
“Androids don’t age, we don’t get sick, we don’t produce offspring and we don’t feel things the way humans do.” He didn’t look up as he continued, Hank watching him all the while  
“I know there’s a downside being committed to a human partner. I know you’ll die and you won’t come back. I know there will be resentment as you age and I remain the same. I don’t like thinking about it. It… hurts.” Hank listened, pulled into himself at the reality of Connor’s words. He was right, they wouldn’t grow old together, he would age and Connor would stay the same, still as fast, as strong and as young as he was the day he came off the line at Cyberlife. It was something that had crossed Hank’s mind time and again, its what kept them at a distance.  
“I don’t care about any of that.” Connor looked over Hanks eyes were sullen but sincere.  
“Everybody’s gonna die someday Con. Even you.” Hank rounded to the driver’s side  
“What’s important is what we do with the time we’ve got.” Connor barely nodded giving a weak smile as Hank unlocked the door.  
“And no matter what happens. I know that I wanna spend that time with you.”


	10. Unstable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nines checks in on Gavin after he doesn't return Tina's calls. But what transpires when he get to the apartment, neither are prepared for.

Nines pulled into the visitor parking stall of Reed’s apartment complex, traffic hadn’t been great and it was getting cloudy out again. Spring certainly had come but so had the rain. It was only a light drizzle but from the data Nines had streaming through his head he knew there would be another storm coming in. Getting out of the autonomous squad car Nines looked over the building, it was almost designed like little train cars, one stacked next to another, perfectly square but all painted different faded colors. Most newer apartments were designed to go up, one apartment above the next with little railed patios and sliding doors. But not these ones. They were older and it showed, as he came closer, he noticed both Gavin’s cats in the kitchen window. Soot was continuously pawing at the glass, stretched out and yowling loudly. Chester sat nearby, eyes wide and alert watching as Nines approached. When he finally reached the front door both cats jumped down from the window and raced to the door where the android could hear them meowing loudly. The door was surprisingly unlocked as Nines used the side of his foot to keep the two cats from getting out while he entered.

He shut the door looking around the room, it looked about the same as when he’d left it a day or so before, except there were some empty beer bottles on the table now.  
Soot paced from the hall back to the kitchen, tail straight and eyes wide as Nines picked up one of the empty bottles, Chester trotted down the hall and meowed loudly, Nines set the bottle down and looked around the apartment from where he stood, analyzing. A low groan pulled him from his task and he followed Soot down the small hallway into the bathroom doorway, there was vomit on the floor and various items had been pulled from the medicine cabinet and littered the counter top. Another groan, Nines continued to the bedroom. Soot jumped up on the bed and sniffed at Gavin’s hand, his knuckles white as he held a blanket around himself tightly. Nines stood observing from the doorway as the grey cat hesitantly loafed down next to it’s human who was shivering violently.  
Gavin had barely registered that another person was in the room, as the android leaned over him and brushed the back of his hand over Reed’s clammy face.  
“You’re sick.” Gavin swallowed thickly and blinked through bleary eyes as Nines continued to look him over  
“N-no sh-shit Sherlock.” He managed, his body quaked as he held the blanket tighter hoping in desperation it would stave off the numbing cold he felt, but it didn’t. His head was pounding and his stomach ached, the alcohol had not helped matters either. He’d always been a firm believer that nothing helped to stop a hangover better than more alcohol, one of the only things he and Hank had ever agreed on, but this time it only seemed to make things worse. Nines exchanged a look with Soot who looked on with clear anxiety at the state of her master, ears perked up and eyes wide at each shiver and shake. Reed felt a shift of weight on the mattress as Nines got up and exited the room, he slowly turned his head upon hearing the rush of water begin to fill the bath tub. He pulled his knees up toward his chest as Nines re-entered the room and began gently but forcefully pulling him up.

“You need to get into the bath Detective.” Reed shook his head but Nines wasn’t taking no for an answer, with no cooperation from Gavin he eventually pulled the blanket away and got Reed to a painful seated position on the edge of the bed, arms holding himself as he continued to shiver even though he was soaked through to the bone with sweat. With effort Nines walked him to the bathroom where he peeled off his shirt and discarded it to the floor, the water continued to rush as the bath filled with warm water. Steam rising in dizzying plumes. Reed continuously pushed Nines hands away as the android attempted to relieve him of his boxers but he ultimately lost that battle when Nines opted to just lift Reed up and set him straight into the tub. Gavin breathed shallow breaths through gritted teeth at the sensation of the water enveloping him. Arms rigid and sore as he bent his knees, trying to breathe slower. Nines took him by the wrist and peeled away the old bandage before turning off the water.  
The water felt good, but he still didn’t and who sent this asshole here to play nurse maid anyways?! Gavin slowly lowered his arms to the sides of the tub as Nines tidied up the counter top and floor. Yesterday had been fine, okay well not all fine, the morning and early afternoon were okay. He’d messaged Chen and had even thought about going out for a drink but come closer to six or seven things weren’t going so well anymore, he’d thought maybe it had been the takeout or perhaps the beers. But this wasn’t like any hangover Reed had ever experienced. This was a numbing, frozen death that spread over him like hot, sick fire. Nines had said he had a fever and that he could get an infection. But the stitches were clean, they hurt like hell but they’d been fine since the tin can had fixed him up. No this, this was bad. He’d gone almost the whole night just lying on the bathroom floor trying to breathe through it. Too hot and too cold at the same time, stomach in knots and the room spinning even with his eyes closed. After getting sick a couple times he thought maybe he’d endured the worst of it, but it just kept crashing over him in waves.

Nines wet a cloth in the sink before kneeling next to the tub, Gavin flinched as the cold cloth was blotted against his forehead and around his face. It was a weird sensation, the cold on his face and the warmth that enveloping the rest of him, but the shivering had stopped, he could still feel a flutter in his chest but it was starting to subside. They stayed there for a long time, not saying anything. Nines re-wetting the cloth to dab away the heat and Reed just sitting there, knees pulled up to his chest with arms crossed over them and head resting atop them while Nines occasionally pooled water in his hands to dump it over Gavin’s shoulders. It was so intimate yet also so clinical in someway. There was no tenderness to Nines actions, at least not that Reed knew of. The android had analyzed the situation and had come to a conclusion about what would best aid to alleviate the symptoms of whatever it was Gavin was experiencing. Putting him in the bath was the logical solution, he was cold, sweaty and in pain. Hot water would ease those things and it had. He could still feel the dull ache in his head and a sour emptiness in the pit of his stomach but… he felt better.

“Why did you come here?” Nines didn’t look up as he dried Gavin’s arm carefully before handing over the towel. Reed dried the back of his neck, water snaking down and around his legs as he sat on the edge of the tub, wet boxers clinging to him.  
“Officer Chen was worried about you.” He stated matter-of-factly taking the soiled laundry from the floor to the washer just outside the room, Reed fanned out the towel and stood, turning to pull down his wet boxers and wrap the towel around his waist as Nines re-entered the room, he noticed the boxers and plucked them from the floor and left to add them to the machine. Gavin held the towel at his waist as he walked into the bedroom.  
“Is that all?” Nines only stared, head slightly cocked to the side at the question but Gavin didn’t pursue it further as he sat down on the bed, both cats were curled up and attempting to sleep now. There was a thick tension in the room, maybe it was the soft light of the bedside lamp, the gentle pattering of rain on the windows or the fact that Gavin was in nothing but a towel but… it was palpable. Nines didn’t seem to notice but fuck. It was awkward as hell.  
“Well I’m fine now. Thanks.” Nines gave a half nod but still stood in the doorway, he’d taken off his jacket, black sleeves were rolled up to the elbow but he was still Nines. Giving that placid fucking look with his little wheel spinning as he stood there, if things had been the way they used to Reed had supposed he was waiting for a directive or something. Now he had no idea what the iron giant was thinking about. Just standing there with those blue eyes and his perfect hair and that fucking turtle neck. There was that feeling again, creeping its way up Reed’s spine and into his ears and it didn’t go unnoticed.

“I took your advice.” Reed cleared his throat  
“What?”  
“About acquiring my own residence.” Well at least the bastard knew how to cut through semi awkward sexual tension  
“Oh yeah?” Nines nodded making his way to the closet  
“I’ve put in an offer for a loft downtown.” He pushed through various shirts on the hangers before deciding on one  
“Is that so.” He handed the shirt to Gavin  
“It is.” As Reed shook out the shirt and started to pull it on Nines couldn’t help but notice the many scars that covered Gavin’s torso  
“You’ve been wounded before.”  
“Hm?” Reed pulled the t-shirt over his head and carefully guided his injured arm through the arm hole, Nines continued to look him up and down.  
“You have quite a collection of defects.” Reed looked himself over as he pushed his other arm through the shirt hole  
“Defects? Y’mean these?” he asked gesturing toward his many scars, Nines nodded as Reed pulled down his shirt  
“Comes with the territory I suppose.” He wasn’t going to elaborate much further than that, some scars had stories that just weren’t to be shared, especially not with someone who referred to them as ‘defects’ Reed pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezed shut. His head still hurt, and he was still being stared at, with those icy eyes and that hundred-yard stare.  
“Christ take a picture it’ll last longer.” he griped as he pushed off the edge of the bed, Nines LED spun yellow as Gavin moved past him and into the bath room, still holding the towel with one hand while he rummaged through the medicine cabinet for something to take the edge off the pounding in his head.  
“You’re rather careless with yourself Detective.” Reed shook out a couple pills not meeting eyes with Nines as he made his way to the kitchen for a glass of water.  
“In the short time we’ve been working together you’ve demonstrated quite the lack of desire to self regulate or preserve yourself.”  
“That supposed to mean something?” Nines pulled and straightened out his sleeves as Gavin swallowed the pills, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand  
“You’re very destructive. Needlessly so.”  
“Again,” Reed rinsed the glass and pushed past Nines to make his way back to the bedroom  
“Is that supposed to mean something?” he closed the bedroom door behind him, leaving Nines standing on the other side while he got dressed  
“A simpleton might say your behavior mimics that of someone with suicidal tendencies.”  
“But you’re no simpleton, right?” the door opened again and they stood with eyes boring into each other, Gavin a foot and a half shorter. He knew exactly what Nines was trying to say, disguised in all his big words and analytical bullshit. He knew and he wasn’t wrong. Things had been different since the android revolution, there were words he had to choke down now. Things he wasn’t comfortable with before that now were everywhere. He had to re-evaluate the way he carried himself, the way he did his job, the way he had dealt with androids in the past. Yes, they weren’t all bad, yes, they could and had proved they were efficient at their jobs and the things they had fought so hard to prove to humans. But that didn’t make it easier, that just made Anderson right. They were alive, and Gavin still didn’t know how he felt about that.

“If you’re having… difficulties you should talk to someone. Someone who could help you.”  
“Like you?” Nines hadn’t anticipated the response but Gavin was consistently unpredictable, so he had to roll with the punches, so to speak.  
“I was suggesting a professional.”  
“You mean a shrink?”  
“Whomever you believe would be of best assistance.”  
“I don’t need a shrink.”  
“I didn’t say you did.”  
“Sure as shit sounded that way to me.” There was that look again, that look that endlessly annoyed Reed when it was pointed in his direction  
“Don’t fucking scan me.” He would’ve pushed past the android if he could, but he filled the doorway with such a presence that even attempting to leave the room seemed unlikely.  
“You shouldn’t get so emotional Detective. You’ll only make yourself sick again.” There was a condescending tone to those words, but he wasn’t wrong, and if he were feeling a hundred percent, he might’ve fought him on it. But not tonight.  
“So you gonna camp out here again and bother me?” Nines looked from the sleeping cats to the hallway, the washing machine chugging along all the while.  
“If you need me to stay,” he turned back to Gavin  
“I can certainly do that for you.” The heat was creeping up behind Reed’s ears, Nines could see it and Gavin knew it  
“You’re just gonna do whatever you want anyways.” He muttered sarcastically, shrugging his shoulders  
“Not if you don’t want me to.” That was unexpected, Nines brow furrowed slightly as he looked Reed up and down. _What the fuck was going on? and what was that face? Those eyes, that look that spread from them all the way down into his hands and the way he was leaning in now just a little closer than before. Was he… worried? No. No you’re imagining things. You treat him like crap why the fuck would he be worried about your ass?_ There were so many emotions and unanswered questions and the complete confusion and shock of it was blooming to the surface faster than Reed could hide it, the only things he could think of to stop it was to step back and close the bedroom door. Back against it as his heart hammered in his chest. _What the fuck? What the fuck?!_

Nines just stood there on the other side of the door. Human’s certainly were strange and incalculable creatures. Gavin was no exception. But what was this feeling that coursed through him now, there was a softness that he grappled with. A line of code that he was unfamiliar with, one that shot up prompts with flashing letters and numbers that didn’t fit together.  
Errors in his code he’d imagined, but only since he’d partnered with Detective Reed and only in the past few weeks had they become more and more frequent. Chester gave a low murmuring mew as Reed sat down hard on the mattress. Soot only opened her eyes a fraction before returning to her nap. Nines held his hand up to knock but it just stayed there, knuckles never meeting the door. Gavin rustled his hair and rubbed his eyes hard with the palms of his hands. A sour taste in the back of his throat and a cold guilt that balled in the pit of his stomach as he heard the front door shut hard. Whatever this was he didn’t want it and nothing was going to stop him from burying these feelings down as far as he could try. This wasn’t going to work. It couldn’t, it wasn’t and he didn’t want it to. Whatever this was, whatever was happening. One way or another he was going to make it stop.


End file.
